ASML pays $3.1B for Hermes to get E-beam inspection

ASML pays $3.1B for Hermes to get E-beam inspection
by Robert Maire on 06-21-2016 at 7:00 am

Cheap versus year ago but expensive on fundementals – Net negative for KLAC/LRCX & AMAT. ASML bought Hermes Microvision for much the same reason as the Cymer acquisition – to support EUV. ASML could have made a counter offer for KLAC (as we had suggested previously) but this obviously would have been much more expensive… Read More


Micron Misses (MU) – No surprise – Needs focus on NAND/XPoint not diving DRAM

Micron Misses (MU) – No surprise – Needs focus on NAND/XPoint not diving DRAM
by Robert Maire on 12-26-2015 at 12:00 pm

We are surprised that everyone is surprised at DRAM, DRAM oversupply/weak demand is systemic so Micron needs to focus on NAND/XPoint.We find it somewhat amusing that many “analysts” were caught off guard about the weakness in Microns results and poor guidance. Why would you think DRAM would be OK???…Have Read More


China’s chip plans an economic attack on Taiwan?

China’s chip plans an economic attack on Taiwan?
by Robert Maire on 12-22-2015 at 7:00 am

An economic “bear hug” cold war invasion? If China can’t get Taiwan by politics or force maybe it can get them by a backdoor economic takeover starting at their most crucial spot – Chips. An ulterior motive for China’s semiconductor aspirations, the $100B silicon Trojan Horse?

Its quite clear … Read More


Intel Analyst Day – More Capex-Less Losses- PCs Slow/Stabilizing- More M&A?

Intel Analyst Day – More Capex-Less Losses- PCs Slow/Stabilizing- More M&A?
by Robert Maire on 11-19-2015 at 12:00 pm

Like other semi stocks we could see a relief rally as the analyst day is likely to be better than previous news flow- Not much new to tell. Most all of the bad news has been wrung out of the stock- 10nm delays, slowing PCs, tablet losses- the bar has been reset on most issues to “beatable levels”.… Read More


Diversity of chip segments had tempered downturns but no more?

Diversity of chip segments had tempered downturns but no more?
by Robert Maire on 10-29-2015 at 12:00 pm

* The Current Downturn is more Broadly Based…
* Back to the “bad old days” of Lemmings off a cliff???
* Its not just a Foundry thing…
* All corners of the chip industry are impacted!!!Read More


The best possible merger in the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Business history!

The best possible merger in the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Business history!
by Robert Maire on 10-21-2015 at 12:00 pm

A new powerhouse to dominate over AMAT
Combination of best of Breeds
KLAC shareholders get $32 cash plus stock


The wedding invitation…….

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) (“Lam”) and KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) (“KLA-Tencor”) today announced that they have entered… Read More


EUV sees further delays?

EUV sees further delays?
by Robert Maire on 10-14-2015 at 12:00 pm

Headwinds which will likely continue into 2016…
ASML reported revenues of 1.55B Euros with EPS of 0.75 Euros more or less in line with expectations. Orders were the weak spot, falling to 904M Euros versus the previous Q2 orders of 1.523B Euros. The company guided Q4 revenues to be down about 10% to 1.4B Euros below current flattish… Read More


BATTERYGATE: Is Apple’s Samsung made iPhone 6S Core Rotten?

BATTERYGATE: Is Apple’s Samsung made iPhone 6S Core Rotten?
by Robert Maire on 10-08-2015 at 4:00 pm

By this time, anyone with a pulse in the tech industry knows that Apple has dual sourced the A9 processor for the Iphone 6S, from both Samsung and TSMC. There are even apps to tell whether your 6S has a Samsung or TSMC part in it. People have run performance comparisons and concluded that the processing performance is the same, which … Read More


EUV – So late to the party it may already be over!

EUV – So late to the party it may already be over!
by Robert Maire on 09-29-2015 at 12:00 pm

Stocks in the semiconductor equipment space continue to fall only this time along with the broad market. We had recently pointed out that LRCX was the last to fall among the large cap companies in the space but now the question becomes when have they fallen enough to say its over, and which stocks have more to fall……

ASMLRead More


Samsung to cut Semi Capex 20% due to over capacity

Samsung to cut Semi Capex 20% due to over capacity
by Robert Maire on 09-24-2015 at 4:00 pm

Article confirms market fears…
An article in the Korea Times cites sources that say Samsung will cut Semi Capex by 20% due to current oversupply and weak pricing. This is obviously a huge negative as Capex for 2016 will certainly be down significantly from 2015 given these cuts which follow on cuts by Intel and others. We can
Read More