Tokyo Electron April-June orders down 35 pct

Tag : Profile Production

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TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd (8035.T: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) said orders for its tools to make semiconductors and flat paneldisplay equipment fell a quarterly 35 percent to a five-year low inApril-June on weak demand from memory makers.
But the world's No.2 chip equipment maker expects orders to pick upin the current quarter as makers of computer memory chips spendmore on production lines to meet year-end demand for fastercomputers and mobile phones.
Chip and display gear orders totalled 104 billion yen ($974million), according to a preliminary tally on Thursday by the firm,which trails Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) and supplies equipment to South Korea's Samsung Electronics CoLtd (005930.KS: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ).
Memory chip prices have plummeted in the past year amid excesscapacity, fueling competition among equipment makers over chipmakers' shrinking spending on new equipment.
Applied Materials plans a $60 million to $70 million plant inSingapore to boost manufacturing in Asia, home to chip makers suchas Samsung, Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) and a growing solar power market.
Breaking down the April-June figure, orders for tools used to makesemiconductors fell 27 percent to 72 billion yen, amid slumpingprices of NAND flash memory, used in digital cameras, memory sticksand Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) iPod.
The value of orders would likely grow about 30 percent to 40percent in July-September, as makers of dynamic random accessmemory spend more, Tokyo Electron said.
Orders for gear used to make flat panels fell 48 percent to 32billion yen following ramp ups by major panel makers at the end of2007 and the beginning of 2008.