TOKYO – Orders for Japanese-made semiconductor equipment fell in October, the eighth straight month of decline as chipmakers rein in spending, an industry group said.
Orders fell 10.9% year-over-year to 123.17 billion yen ($1.12 billion), with a fall in orders for wafer processing equipment overcoming higher demand for testers, the
Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said.
Orders have dropped from a spending spree last year by DRAM makers, while computer processor makers such as
Intel and
AMD have yet to pick up the slack, the firm reported.
Japan is reportedly the world's largest market for chip-producing tools, and is home to such microchip equipment makers as
Advantest,
Tokyo Electron,
Disco and
Dainippon Screen Manufacturing. Japanese suppliers of chip equipment also include Nikon, Canon and Yokogawa Electric.