Korean Equipment Makers Anticipate Bumper Year in 2004, Expand in Asian Markets

摘要

Convinced that global demand for semiconductor chips is recov-ering fast, chipmakers are in-vesting billions of dollars in new facilities to expand production capacity. Makers of semiconductor equipment are seeing signs of a strong turnaround across the board and accordingly expect to gain from heavy investments in equipment. Nowhere is the impact of such capital spending by chipmakers felt more strongly than in Korea. Home to the world's leading memory chip and TFT-LCD producers, the country's chips and LCD makers are on a spending binge to build new generation facilities to meet the rush of orders. The surge in capital investment is helping makers of semiconductor machines recover from a three-year slump. According to Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), the Korean market for semiconductor equipment will advance 14 percent this year to US$2.15 billion, compared with US$1.89 billion a year ago.