The future’s good, the future’s growth is the message from the world’s No.1 chip-making equipment supplier Applied Materials.
In the quarter to the end of January orders for chip-making equipment were up 53% and sales of chip-making equipment were up 26% on the preceding quarter. Applied expects to see sales up 5-15% in the current quarter.
Samsung and TSMC were identified out as putting in substantial orders.
"Global demand for mobile devices is driving a third consecutive year of strong capital investment by semiconductor customers," says CEO Mike Splinter, “as a result, we see solid order momentum and an improved outlook overall for our second quarter."
The new orders came from: foundry 57%, logic and other 14%, flash 19%, and DRAM 10%. Samsung and TSMC were identified out as putting in substantial orders.
Applied’s non-chip divisions – solar-related and display-making equipment – showed declines in both orders and sales.
