Taiwan bucks world trend to be No. 1 in semiconductor equipment spending

Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings for the first quarter dropped 19 percent annually amid an industry slump, but Taiwan bucked the downtrend with billings soaring 68 percent year-on-year, international trade group SEMI said yesterday. Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings for the quarter fell to US$13.79 billion, from US$16.99 billion a year earlier, according to data gathered by SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan from 80 global equipment suppliers. Two weeks ago, North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment reported a 4.7 percent monthly growth in worldwide billings to US$1.91 billion for April, marking the first monthly growth since December last year.

Source: www.taipeitimes.com