The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics show world sales of ICs at $11.37bn in May, down 10.5% year-on-year. Asia Pacific showed an increase of 22.4% to $4.16bn. Europe was down 20.6% at $2.24bn. The Americas and Japan were down 21.0% at $2.65bn and 25.9% at $2.33bn, respectively.

US DRAM producer Micron Technology recorded a net loss of $24m on net sales
of $771m in the quarter ended May 30. These figures compare with a net loss
of $301m on net sales of $818m for the same period in 2001. Falling chip
prices thwarted Wall Street's expections of a profit. A slowing PC market
was a factor in depressed prices.

ASM International is expecting Q2 net sales of more than EUR130m,
constraining net losses to less than EUR8m. At the time of its Q1 results,
ASM was cautious and looked to sales comparable with Q1's EUR100.6m and net
losses of EUR12.2m. ASM has recently seen improved bookings. ASM hopes that
the upward trend will continue in the remaining quarters of 2002.

Implant equipment maker Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates has
revised upwards its expectations for the financial quarter ending June 28,
2002 (FQ3). A late-quarter acceleration in customer demand pushed the
forecast to the $91-96m range, up from previous anticipations of $75-90m.
Diluted earnings per share are now due to rise from breakeven level to
between 6-9cents.
Chairman/CEO Richard A Aurelio reports that customers are asking for early
delivery of tools. However, "visibility has not improved beyond what we have
previously reported, although we plan to provide FQ4 guidance during our
conference call scheduled for July 23, 2002. Our focus is to continue to
maximise operational efficiencies at current business levels."