Are Chip Makers Headed South?
As chip equipment goes, so goes the electronics industry and the rest of high tech. It’s a pretty simple equation. Electronics gadget makers get silicon from chipmakers, which get production gear from companies like Applied Materials and ASML. So when chip gear suppliers go south, you can bet the entire electronics industry (and the overall tech industry) is in a funk.
Appearing on CNBC Thursday morning, Peter Wennink, chief financial officer of Netherlands-based chip equipment maker ASML, said the “sudden drop in end demand for electronic products…is forcing our customers to announce severe cuts in their production.” Who are ASML’s customers? Companies like Toshiba, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Samsung, and Intel, which supply the electronic guts to customers like Sony, Nokia, Compal Electronics, and Hewlett-Packard. (Samsung and Toshiba are also large consumers of silicon from the chip-making arms of their companies.)
Comments are closed.