***Cell Phone Shipments to Hit 420 Million
(January 9)
According to the Japan Times, the Japanese unit of GartnerGroup
has released a survey showing that worldwide shipments of mobile
phones will likely reach 420 million units in 2000, far outpacing
the 280 million shipped in 1999. The survey results also showed
that shipments reached 104.6 million units in the July-September
quarter of last year.
The high growth is attributable to a surge in new subscriptions
in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America, as well as steady
demand in Europe to update models. Ranking top in the third
quarter of 2000 was Nokia Group, which took 30.6 percent of the
global market, followed by Motorola with a 13.3 percent share and
Ericsson with 9.7 percent.
Japanese builders of semiconductor manufacturing equipment are
expected to enjoy an average of 17.7 percent sales growth over
the next four fiscal years, with a surge in fiscal 2000 expected
recede the following year. Active demand linked to the
information technology boom is expected to raise sales in the
year ending in March by as much as 72.9 percent to 1.95 trillion
yen, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of
Japan.
The growth in demand will likely slowdown thereafter, however, to
a 4 percent rise to 2.03 trillion yen in fiscal 2001 and a 1.4
percent fall to 2.003 trillion yen in fiscal 2002, due to a
slowing U.S. economy and a fall in demand for personal computers
and mobile phones. Sales in fiscal 2003 are forecast to grow by
8.1 percent to 2.17 trillion yen, however, thanks to the
anticipated launch of an advanced chip production technique that
uses larger silicon wafers 300 mm in diameter.
Wave Issue 0102 1/9/01 Article 1-01