June 16, 2008 – Foreign ownership of Japanese frontend process semiconductor equipment firms rose in the fiscal year ended in March, while the opposite was true for domestic firms serving the backend of the manufacturing line, noted the Nikkei daily.

Tokyo Electron saw its foreign investor stake climb two percentage points to 40.1%, as profits rose 16% Y-Y to a record ¥106.2B, the paper noted. Meanwhile, at Dainippon Screen Mfg Co. rose 1.1 points to 22.5%, and 8.4 points to 21.5% at Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc.

Two backend firms saw foreign interest fall, though: Advantest’s foreign investor percentage fell 5.9 points to 27.6%, with a 15.7 point plunge at Tokyo Seimitsu to just 5%.