Chipmaking gear orders drop

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Orders in Japan for chipmaking equipment manufactured by both Japanese and foreign makers posted the first drop in six years in fiscal 2007, an industry group said Saturday. In the year that ended in March, orders fell 15.7% from the previous year to 945.2 billion yen, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said.

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The weakness can be attributed to falling capital spending by semiconductor makers amid a slump in dynamic random access memory chip prices, SEAJ official said. Of the total, orders for wafer-processing equipment, including steppers, declined 14% to 705.4 billion yen.

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