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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul V. who wrote (29241)	3/28/1999 11:03:00 PM
From: Jeffrey D	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 70976

Latest from Bloomberg. Jeff << World Chipmaking Equipment Sales Slumped 44% in January on Year Tokyo, March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Worldwide sales of equipment used to make microchips slumped 44 percent in January from the same month in 1998, the ninth straight month of decline, as U.S. and Japanese chipmakers scaled back capital spending, industry figures showed. Equipment sales slumped 44 percent to $1.304 billion in the month, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. The rate of decline eased for the second straight month, though, suggesting sales are rebounding from a trough reached in November. ''We're already past the low point,'' said Alan Bell, an analyst at Schroders Japan Ltd. Analysts expect chipmaking equipment sales to begin to increase from year-earlier totals during the May-September period, thanks to gains in capital spending at Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest computer memory chipmaker, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. -- the world's top foundry chipmakers, or makers of custom-designed chips. The sluggish sales in January reflect cuts in spending on equipment by Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, Motorola Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Japan's six largest semiconductor producers. That has cut into the earnings of many of the world's largest producers of microchip-making equipment, such as Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp. in the U.S., ASM Lithography Holding NV of the Netherlands and Tokyo Electron Ltd., Nikon Corp. and Advantest Corp. in Japan. Japan's top six chipmakers, for instance -- NEC Corp., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Oki Electric Industry Co. -- are cutting investment on their microchip businesses by a combined 44 percent in the year ending this month. Sales in the U.S., the largest single market for such equipment with nearly two-fifth of sales worldwide, totaled $513 million in January. Cumulative U.S. sales for the 10 months ended January were 31 percent lower than in the year-earlier period. Japan, the second-largest market, had sales of $244 million in January. Sales for the 10 months ended January were 44 percent lower than the year-earlier period. South Korean sales totaled $51 million during the month, giving a tumble of 53 percent in the 10 months ended January, the largest percentage decline for any regional market. Chipmaking-equipment sales figures tend to lag order numbers by up to half a year. Sales are likely to fall for several months ahead, in line with 14 months of declining orders in markets such as Japan. The following table gives a breakdown for total worldwide sales of semiconductor-making machinery, in millions of dollars. The percentage changes compare totals for 1998 with the previous year's figures. ********************************************************* Equipment January Y-o-Y Change Sales (Apr. 1998 - Jan 1999) ******************************************************* Mask/Reticle Man. Equip. 76.922 18.1% Wafer Man. Equip. 377 -73.3% Wafer Processing Equip. 842.223 -36.4% Assembly Equipment 87.366 -26.2% Inspection Equip. 225.441 -36.5% Related Equipment 71.411 -31.9% ********************************************************* TOTAL 1,303.740 -34.8% >>