NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Aug 6, 2012) - Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, a trade group that represents the manufacturing supply chain for the semiconductor industry, recently reported that they expect global spending on chip production equipment in 2012 to shrink by 2.6 percent to $42.4 billion. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Industry and provides equity research on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ AMAT ]) and Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: [ LRCX ]).

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The decline in 2012 follows a 9 percent market increase in 2011. Despite the decline, 2012 is projected to be the fourth highest in spending followed by 2007 ($42.8 billion), 2011 ($43.5 billion), and 2000 ($47.7 billion). North America in 2012 is projected to experience a 7.5 percent decline to a total of $8.56 billion when compared to 2011. In 2013 SEMI predicts North America will have the second highest total of $10.13 billion, a year-over-year increase of 18.3 percent. The group also predicts global spending to exceed $46 billion in 2013.

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Applied Materials, Inc. is the global leader in providing innovative equipment, services and software to enable the manufacture of advanced semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic products. For the fiscal year ending October 28, 2012, the company expects net sales to be below the previous outlook of $9.1 billion to $9.5 billion.

Lam Research Corp. last month completed its merger with San Jose, Calif.-based Novellus Systems, Inc. "We believe that this merger enables the newly expanded Lam Research to accelerate revenue growth at a faster pace by leveraging our technology adjacencies and complementary experience to more quickly deliver solutions addressing our customers' technology and productivity challenges," stated Martin Anstice, the company's president and chief executive officer.

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