Applied Materials CFO says not expecting material impact from China trade rules

CFO Brice Hill states: “Next I’ll discuss our business in China. As Gary indicated, we do not expect an incremental material impact from the recently updated trade rules. Our business in China grew as expected in Q4, largely due to an increase in trailing edge DRAM shipments that contributed close to $500 million in revenue. In Q4, our overall revenue in China was 44% of company sales. For the full year, revenue in China was 27% of sales with semi system sales in China come posing 20% and AGS and Display sales in China the remaining 7%. We believe equipment demand in China is likely to remain healthy for an extended period because China’s domestic manufacturing capacity remains significantly below its share of worldwide semiconductor demand. In addition, while name plate fab capacity is growing in China, effective capacity is likely to remain below industry averages for sometime until product and process yields gradually improve.” Comments taken from Q4 earnings conference call.