Orders for chipmaking gear down 35.7%

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Orders in Japan for chipmaking equipment manufactured by both domestic and foreign makers fell 35.7% from a year before to 60 billion yen in February, declining for the 11th straight month, an industry group said Thursday.

The situation will remain severe, in line with the downtrend of the dynamic random access memory market, said an official from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan. Of the total, orders for wafer-processing equipment, including steppers, dropped 38.5% to 44.9 billion yen, according to the SEAJ.