By KENJI IZAWA/ Staff Writer
February 10, 2023 at 16:29 JST
A semiconductor in a manufacturing process (Provided by SEMI Japan)
Tokyo Electron Ltd. saw its sales in China plummet by 39 percent in the October-December period of 2022 compared with the previous quarter following U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor technologies to the country.
The company, which manufactures chip-making equipment, reported on Feb. 9 that its sales in China dropped to 102.7 billion yen ($779 million) influenced by the imposing of the U.S. export restrictions as well as falling global demand for computer chips.
However, the company raised its overall sales outlook for the fiscal year that ends in March 2023 by 70 billion yen to 2.17 trillion yen, revising the estimated 250 billion yen downturn announced in autumn.
“(U.S. restrictions) made an impact but (our Chinese customers’) investment didn’t slow as much as we feared in our worst-case scenario,” Tokyo Electron President Toshiki Kawai said.
In October, Washington announced measures that virtually banned U.S. companies from selling advanced chip-making technologies and equipment to China.
The move hit China’s chip-making industry as well as Tokyo Electron, which supplies machinery to it.
There have been reports that Japan and the Netherlands are ready to agree to Washington’s request to join in limiting exports of technology and equipment to China. That would make a bigger impact on Japanese suppliers of chip-making equipment.
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