Modest growth for semiconductor equipment in Europe in Q1

The sales of manufacturing equipment to the semiconductor industry in Europe reached the level of $920 million during the first quarter of 2006. That is an increase of 7 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2005 but an increase by only 1 percent year-on-year. North America had the largest growth within these products. The North American market grew as much as 15 percent year-on-year to reach $1.795 billion. The largest market is Japan as in the first quarter rose 16 percent and reached sales of $2.331 billion. The least increase was shown by China that increased only 1 percent from the fourth quarter 2005 and reached $380 million in turnover. Korea declined by 22 percent year-on-year but compared to the fourth quarter 2005 that market grew by 35 percent to reach $1.774 billion. The global market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment grew by 20 percent from Q4 2005 and 3 percent year-on-year to reach $9.58 billion in sales.