More than 3,000 exhibitors from 48 countries and 75,000 international visitors crowded the 14 exhibit halls from November 9-12 to get the latest information on trends and innovations in the electronics field.

(December 1, 2004) Chiba, Japan &#8212 The market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is expected to grow 59% in 2004 to be the second largest annual level ever recorded, according to the year-end edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Consensus Forecast, released by SEMI at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition. Manufacturers of semiconductor equipment expect a moderate cyclic decline in 2005 to $33.49 billion.