Monday, December 16, 2002
Global sales of chipmaking equipment fell 13.0 percent in October from the month before to $2.03 billion, a research firm reported. The decline means the timing for the tech market rebound that everyone is hoping of remains largely unclear.
However, compare to last year numbers, the October figure marked a 34.1 percent improvement, the report said.
In September, sales of equipment to make and test microchips were the highest in nearly a year and a half, reflecting a rebound early this year in the semiconductor market from last year's record slump.
But more forward-looking figures for equipment orders, which tend to precede sales by three to six months or more, have been pointing for several months of continue weakness.
October orders data for North America, released late last month, showed an eight percent drop from September, while Japanese data showed a 21.2 percent month-on-month decline.
Monday's numbers showed continued strong demand in Asia's emerging semiconductor centres, especially Taiwan, which posted 33.5 percent month-on-month growth in October to $352.4 million, while South Korean sales dipped 2.9 percent to $153.5 million.
Japan posted a 28.2 percent decline to $371.9 million as its struggling chipmakers continued to rein in spending, although the Japanese look set to open the investment taps again after Toshiba Corp announced plans last week to build two large, cutting-edge plants over the next four years.
October sales in North America fell 27.9 percent from the previous month to $578.3 million while Europe posted a 18.8 percent increase to $275.0 million, the report said.
By: DocMemory
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