Moshe Handelsman, president of AFI, told semiconductor and capital equipment executives at this week's Industry Strategy Symposium in Pebble Beach, CA, that his firm's short-term IC market forecast shows there “might be a major correction in the near future.” The equipment business would be affected by such a correction with a lag of one to two quarters, he said. In his short-term forecast, Handelsman sees a slowdown in capacity utilization, and says front-end and test equipment shipment growth will slow down by the end of this year.

Applied Materials announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Etec Systems, Inc., Hayward, CA, in a stock-for-stock merger.