Applied Materials Inc makes the equipment that makes the chips, and it says it expects further gains in market share, and for sales growth to continue at a compound annual rate of about 32%, fuelled by ac- celerating demand for semiconductors, its chief financial officer, Gerald Taylor, told the conference: Our opportunities have never been better, he said. Applied’s strategy of broadening its product line to supply all types of equipment needed to process semiconductors was bringing in large amounts of business because customers want to buy from one supplier, he added. He reiterated Applied’s forecast that sales this year should reach $3.60bn and declared that the increasing chip content now 19% – in the average electronic device suggested further acceleration in demand for equipment to make chips.
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