News
02/01/2004
Japanese equipment orders impress, while sales regress
Global orders in October of Japanese semiconductor equipment soared above ¥100 million for the third consecutive month at their highest levels in nearly three years, according to the latest figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ).
Worldwide equipment orders in October 2003 skyrocketed to ¥145.31 billion ($1.33 billion), an eye-popping 108.2% year-on-year increase, and up from ¥114.14 billion ($1.05 billion) in September and ¥102.07 billion ($921.6 million) in August. Domestic orders rose to ¥72.04 billion ($657.2 million), up from ¥67.80 billion ($623.7 million) in September, ¥46.66 billion ($399.2 million) in August, and a 40.5% increase from October 2002. Global orders are at their highest levels since December 2000, while domestic orders have risen year-on-year in all but one month since September 2002.
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Several categories of equipment orders continued to post impressive yearly growth, as demand for big chipmaking tools continues to build. Global orders for wafer-manufacturing equipment rose to ¥99.2 billion ($904.8 million), a 34.5% increase from a month ago and up 113% from October 2002. Test and assembly equipment grew 33.5% from September to ¥31.84 billion ($290.4 million), a 96% gain from a year ago, while assembly equipment rose 19.1% to ¥8.93 billion ($81.4 million), a 112% increase year-on-year. Global orders for maskmaking (¥812 million, $7.4 million), wafer-processing (¥704 million, $6.4 million), and related equipment (¥3.85 billion, $35.1 million) all were down more than 37% month-to-month and are well off their springtime highs, but are up nearly 100% from October 2002.
After a big bump in September, global sales of Japanese-made equipment came back down to earth in October at ¥62.38 billion ($569.1 million), compared with ¥130.45 billion ($1.2 billion) in September and ¥77.34 billion ($698.3 million) in August. Domestic sales were also down month-on-month, from ¥72.80 billion ($669.7 million) in September to ¥46.95 billion ($428.3 million). Still, global and domestic sales are up for the year-on-year period: 16.9% and 23.7%, respectively.
Offsetting strength in orders, global and domestic sales of equipment in every category answered September's across-the-board gains with a retreat in October. For global sales, each category sunk at least 40% month-on-month, although all save the mask
eticle segment held above last year's levels. Domestically, sales in all categories slid month-on-month by as much as 69%, but remained just above last year's levels.
Nevertheless, the rosy equipment orders generated worldwide and domestic book-to-bill ratios that reversed a four-month decline. The global book-to-bill for Japanese equipment in October was 1.34 —the sixth straight month above parity —up from 1.10 in September, 1.24 in August, and 0.88 in October 2002. A book-to-bill of 1.34 means that $134 in new orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The domestic book-to-bill in September was also above parity at 1.08, up from 0.92 in September, 1.03 in August, and 1.05 in October 2002.
Government to take over Japan industry research consortium
Japan's government-funded Mirai 45nm research project will take over the work of the industry's joint Asuka 65nm development program this summer, in what the Nihon Keizai Shimbun says is an attempt to do a better job moving research on advanced technologies into production. Presumably this also means the government will take over the funding of this development work. The 10 Japanese chipmakers that support the Asuka project are reportedly considering disbanding their Selete project next year as well.
The industry Asuka project has been controversial from the beginning, with even some participating companies arguing that its work is too little too late, too close to competitive product development, and focused on the wrong approaches. The Mirai project team, meanwhile, has recently been publishing a wide range of interesting results in hot topics from strained silicon to high-k gates —plus chipmakers don't have to pay for it themselves. While Selete was originally put together to speed the development of 300mm equipment, it has been most active recently in developing 157nm and e-beam lithography systems and related infrastructure. —Paula Doe, Asia correspondent
Korean firms fatten budgets for 2004
Several of South Korea's big electronics companies are planning to significantly increase their investments in the coming year, according to the Korea Herald. Conglomerate Samsung Group plans to invest up to $4.2 billion in 2004, up 20% from 2003, to expand capacity for semiconductors and flat-panel displays. Samsung is reportedly planning to add six new lines to the six currently running or in construction at its 300mm facility in Hwasong, and add a 13th production line for 300mm wafers as well, boosting capacity at its top three lines to 40,000–50,000 wafers/month. Overall, the group is budgeting for $9.3 billion in facilities investments, and $3.7 million in R&D for its electronics and semiconductor businesses.
Assuming it successfully sloughs off its nonmemory businesses, Hynix Semiconductor has set aside roughly $1.25 billion for various facilities investments in 2004, nearly double the company's commitment in 2003. The plans including a pilot 300mm line at its Chongju plant, with capacity of 35,000–40,000 wafers/month. Hynix expects it will have poured $2.5 billion into its Chongju operations by the time it comes online in early 2004 after a year of pilot operations.
LG Group plans to invest $6.67 billion on R&D and facility upgrades in 2004 — more than half of that will be spent on upgrading facilities for LCD panels and electronic materials, including a new sixth-generation LCD plant north of Seoul by LG Philips, the organization's 50-50 JV with Royal Philips Electronics. Both Samsung and LG are planning to open operations in China.
DongbuAnam Semiconductor expects to spend $543.8 million in 2004 — a 168% year-on-year increase — to expand and upgrade chip lines using 130nm and 90nm processes at its facilities in Sangwoo and Puchon. The company is projecting facilities investments of up to $1.09 billion by 2006.
Water shortage in Taiwan does not affect semi companies
Due to the lowest rainfall levels in 40 years in the Shihmen Dam area, which supplies water to the northern part of Taiwan, government officials have chosen to withhold water supplies from rice crops in order to supply homes and manufacturing production lines in Hsinchu and Taoyuan, according to Dow Jones.
The Water Resources Agency said more than 60,000 hectares of rice fields encompassing the first crop of 2004 would have to go thirsty temporarily in order to benefit residents and businesses, including TSMC and AU Optronics Corp. — semiconductor and flat-panel production operations involve large amounts of water, and even the slightest disruption in the process can be costly.
Vice minister of economic affairs Yiin Chii-ming has given government agencies a two-week deadline to come up with a better plan for supplying water to the industrial parks in Taoyuan and Hsinchu.
The situation is not unprecedented; in 2002, local firms had to bring in water via trucks, and Taipei resorted to water rationing.
Chip group challenges Philippine export figures
A trade group representing domestic electronics firms is protesting the latest government figures for November's electronics exports, calling them "strange" and "impossible," according to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) said growth trends from a majority of its members, including domestic operations of Texas Instruments and Amkor, do not fit the figures released this week by the National Statistics office, which claims that electronics and semiconductors were $2.012 billion in November, a 10.2% drop from the previous year.
Seipi executive director Ernesto Santiago added that the industry is maintaining its prediction of $24.3 million in exports for all of 2003, which would be roughly flat with that of 2002.
Exports from all industries were down nearly 5% in November to $2.95 billion, with lessened demand from the US (down 29%) and a pickup in demand from Japan and China (up 20% and 66%, respectively).