Market Research

"The current booking levels,down from highs earlier in the
year,reflect the uncertainty facing the semiconductor industry as
the New Year approaches,although the overall mood in the
industry is that conditions will improve in 2003,"says Stanley
Myers,president and CEO of SEMI."Following two years of
severe contraction,the industry consensus is that the worldwide
capital equipment market will grow 15%in 2003."

Independently,VLSI Research estimates a book-to-bill ratio
of 0.92 in November for the world semiconductor equipment
industry.Bookings are put at $3.02bn -$1.75bn for wafer
processing,$0.68bn for test,$0.22bn for assembly and $0.37bn
for services and spares.The company expects a ratio of 1 for
December.

In the IC market,VLSI has a book-to-bill of 1.01 in November
with bookings of $11.08bn and billings of $10.96bn.Decembers
ratio is expected to be 1.04 (bookings $11.26bn,billings
$10.83bn).Fab capacity utilisation is put at 82.7%in November.

Gartner Dataquest published its DRAM production revenue
rankings for 2002.The total market is estimated at $16.2bn,up
36.7%on 2001.No.1 Samsung accounts for 30.8%with revenues
$4.99bn.Second place is taken by Micron Technology based on
a 17.2%share and sales of $2.79bn.Korean company Hynix
Semiconductor was No.3 with $2.10bn and a 13.0%share.
Europes DRAM producer,Infineon Technologies,was No.4
(12.2%share and $1.98bn sales).No.5 and No.6 were Japans
Elpida Memory (6.4%)and Taiwans Nanya Technology (4.8%).

Semico Research reports increased market share of analogue
semiconductors in 2001.For 2000,15%of total sales came from
the analogue sector.This increased to 17%in 2001.The market
researcher is predicting a 14%compound annual growth rate
over the next five years.

Semico Research believes that wafer demand will increase at an
annual rate of 19%up to 2004 from 2002.The basis for the
increase is tight capacity resulting from closures,consolidations
and delays in building new production lines.

Gartner Dataquest is looking to increased wafer demand with the
start-up of more 300mm fabs.

"At present,300mm wafer demand is estimated at
approximately 200,000 of wafers per month,"says Takashi
Ogawa,principal analyst for Gartner Dataquests semiconductor
manufacturing research group."It will grow rapidly with the
reinvigoration of 300mm fab projects and is expected to reach a
level of 440,000-450,000 of wafers per month in the fourth quarter
of 2003.Coupled with the 300mm wafer demand ramp-up,total
silicon demand will expand appreciably at the annualised pace of
23%in 2004 and will reach 6.147bn square inches."

Gartner Dataquest is expecting semiconductor capital spending to
increase 15%in 2003 to $32bn from 2002s $27.8bn.Equipment
spending is forecast at $18.5bn,16%up from $15.9bn.In the IC
packaging and assembly market,revenues are expected to be
10.5%up at $29.6bn from 2002s $26.7bn.