FY2014 Earnings Release Conference Q&A | Investor Relations

What is your forecast for SPE orders during April - June 2014?

We expect SPE orders in April-June 2014 will decline but they will be at least 130 billion yen.

At the previous earnings release conference, you indicated that you expected capital investment in wafer fab equipment (WFE) to increase 10% in 2014 compared to the previous year, but now you are indicating that you expect an increase of 15%. What will increase?

Our initial outlook for WFE in 2014 has not changed. Investment in both DRAM and NAND memory will increase by at least 30% compared to the previous year, and we expect investment in logic and foundries together to grow by at least 5%.

How much SPE market share do you expect to recover in 2014?

When combined with the effects from differences in sales recognition standards, we believe that our market share will improve to at least the level of 2012 (13.2%). There is no change to our target of increasing our share of the WFE market to 16% by 2017, as specified in the medium term management plan announced last year.

Why did your share of etch systems decrease? Are you planning any measures to recover market share?

The major factor is the currency exchange rate. Growth of the silicon etch market as a result of an increase in memory investment was also a factor. In the coming one to two years, we plan to expand our RLSA etch system business in the logic field, increase the number of process steps in NAND, and take advantage of the lower value of the yen to increase our market share to even higher levels than in the past.

How much are one-time expenses in your forecast for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2015?

The financial forecast for the first half includes about 6.0 billion yen in losses in the PVE business and about 6.0 billion yen in expenses relating to the merger with AMAT.

Does the financial forecast for the second half of the fiscal year ending March 2015 include expense synergy effects resulting from the merger with AMAT?

As it is TEL's stand-alone financial estimate, it does not include synergy effects.

If TEL merges with AMAT, how do you anticipate that higher efficiency and higher added value in the FPD business will proceed?

Processes relating to CVD and etch systems will become mutually transparent, and as a result, we expect the same type of synergy effects in development as those achieved with SPE.

You did not make any statements concerning advanced packaging or TSV. Has there been any change in your business plan?

The establishment of the advanced packaging market has been slower than we anticipated, and consequently we did not touch on this field with regard to our current strategies, but there is no question that packaging will expand in the future, and we are actively conducting development.

What progress has been made with regard to MRAM equipment?

Development conducted primarily at Tohoku University and our own MRAM technology development conducted with customers are proceeding steadily, and we believe that we will establish a substantial lead in this field.

The consolidated financial review (Tanshin) included the explanation that you "anticipate that the combined holding company will not be a constituent stock of the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX)." What is the final decision?

We have made repeated appeals to the Tokyo Stock Exchange since last year, but we have determined that it may be difficult to be included in the TOPIX and made an announcement at the time of the release of our annual results. We hope to provide attractive investment opportunities to a broad range of investors by remaining listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.