The post election Semicap bubble just burst in one day

The post election Semicap bubble just burst in one day
by Robert Maire on 12-04-2016 at 12:00 pm

Back to a more normal reality… Market gets”De-Fanged”… Where to from here? The “Icarus” Effect… Much of the market, and especially Tech & “FANG” (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix & Google) stocks gave back most all of their post election day gains in one session.Read More


AMAT LRCX and EUV Economics

AMAT LRCX and EUV Economics
by Robert Maire on 11-23-2016 at 7:00 am

Lam & Applied talked about “sustainable” growth Both expect share gains & growth in a flattish market. We examine the “new, lower, cyclicality”. Although Applied and Lam are fierce competitors , coming at things from different directions, they sounded awfully similar last week.
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EUV transition comes into focus

EUV transition comes into focus
by Robert Maire on 11-04-2016 at 12:00 pm

We attended ASML’s analyst day in New York on Halloween. We were very impressed with the quality, content and clarity of the presentations and thought it was one of the best strategic positioning presentations we have seen in the semi industry. We also had an opportunity to meet with several members of senior management afterRead More


What is the impact of missing the 7NM node with EUV?

What is the impact of missing the 7NM node with EUV?
by Robert Maire on 10-23-2016 at 12:00 pm

ASML reported a quarter that was slightly below expectations coming in at Euro 1.815B in revenues and Euro 0.93 EPS. Orders were a bit soft at Euro 1.4B but well within the normal quarterly variation of a lumpy business. Euro 28M was lost in a currency adjustment associated with the Hermes acquisition.

The guidance for Q4 was between… Read More


What’s the Intel Capex Outlook?

What’s the Intel Capex Outlook?
by Robert Maire on 10-23-2016 at 7:00 am

Intel has terrific QTR & slightly light guide Intel is recovering & transforming at the same time. Whats the Capex outlook? Impact on ASML KLAC LRCX?

Intel reported revenues of $15.78B and earnings of $0.80 for the quarter beating expectations and previous upward guidance. CCG (PCs) were up 21% Q/Q and 5% Y/Y. Data center… Read More


AMAT reports strong Q and even better guidance

AMAT reports strong Q and even better guidance
by Robert Maire on 08-21-2016 at 4:00 pm

Last quarter we said that AMAT got its mojo back and it appears to have even picked up speed going into the end of a strong year.

The display business which had been less than reliable in years past has come up with back to back home runs. Applied is growing both its top and bottom line at well above the sluggish market rates and is clearly… Read More


SEMICON West – Harry Levinson and Mike Lercel Interview

SEMICON West – Harry Levinson and Mike Lercel Interview
by Scotten Jones on 08-02-2016 at 12:00 pm

On Tuesday morning at SEMICON I had the opportunity to sit down with Harry Levinson, Sr. Director of Technology Research and Sr. Fellow at Global Foundries and Michael Lercel, Director of Strategic Marketing at ASML to discuss the state of lithography.

I opened the discussion with a question about how we are going to address lithography… Read More


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


IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – EUV When, Not If

IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – EUV When, Not If
by Scotten Jones on 05-28-2016 at 7:00 am

For me personally EUV has been something of a roller coaster ride over the last several years. I started out a strong believer in EUV but then at the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference in 2014 TSMC gave a very negative assessment of EUV, and there was a SEMATECH paper on high NA EUV that struck me as extremely unlikely to succeed. I … Read More