Chipmaking equipment sales fell for an eighth month in October, indicating chipmakers are curbing spending as chip prices slump, an industry group said.
Global sales slid 69 percent to US$1.52 billion in October from a year ago, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Waning demand may hurt sales at chip equipment-makers such as Applied Materials Inc, ASML Holding NV and Tokyo Electron Ltd.
Chip sales stalled this year as consumers and businesses bought fewer personal computers in the US recession. With PC sales shaping up this holiday season, manufacturers have begun stocking up on processors from companies such as Intel Corp, analysts and investors said. Memory-chip prices have also risen.
All the same, the chip industry will probably post its worst drop on record and many producers will find recovery difficult, Gartner Inc's Dataquest market-research unit said.
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