The recent earnings season turned out to be largely good news for the companies that make semiconductor manufacturing gear. But investors haven't quite come around yet.

ASML has signed an agreement with one of its major US customers to deliver a minimum of 15 ASML EUV lithography systems to support increased development activity and pilot production of future-generation manufacturing processes.

Applied Materials is benefiting from an increase in demand from companies such as TSMC that build semiconductors for other chipmakers, as they upgrade plants for new production processes.

"We are seeing a near-term slowdown in investment by our foundry customers as they focus on ramping (production using) new capacity installed over the past two quarters," said Applied CEO Michael Splinter.

KLA-Tencor forecast current-quarter revenue below expectations as slumping personal computer sales hurt demand for new chip-manufacturing gear, sending its shares lower.

Nova Measuring Instruments, the Israeli maker of equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, rebounded in New York after the chief executive officer said he's confident its largest customer won't pare back orders.

Increased spending in NAND and flash by Micron, LEDs by Philips and Osram, and continued investments by Globalfoundries will create new opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers in Southeast Asia.

Cymer and ASML continue to expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2013.

KLA-Tencor posted fiscal first-quarter revenue below expectations and said current-quarter revenue would fall more as chipmakers, worried about the economy, hold off on new orders of manufacturing equipment.

The billings figure is 4% lower than the first quarter of 2012 and 13% lower than the same quarter a year ago, while the bookings figure shows decreases of 10% on year and 4% on quarter, according to SEMI.

Applied Materials has forecast fiscal fourth-quarter sales that may fall short of analysts' estimates as some customers rein in expansion plans.

Aided by recent moves by Intel and some other big chipmakers, momentum seems to be growing for a big technology shift in making semiconductors. But some key players remain wary, based partly on their scars from the last transition.

The company also revised its calendar year 2012 industry forecast for wafer fab equipment spending to US$30-33 billion, compared to its previous expectation of US$32-35 billion, in line with the market changes.

ASML is negotiating with Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) over taking up to a 10% stake in the company under its equity-plus-research program.

Intel is the first participant in the customer co-investment program, and has committed to acquire up to a 15% equity ownership interest at a subscription price of EUR39.91 per share, and to also provide EUR829 million to ASML in R&D funding, which will be dedicated to the development of 450mm and EUV technology.

Applied Materials investors cheered the appointment of a seasoned executive Wednesday.

ASML dropped the most in six months after Europe's biggest semiconductor equipment maker didn't provide guidance for future orders in its first-quarter results.

Barclays Capital is raising its total lithography units forecast by more than 10 systems, from 234 to 251 in 2012. As many as 260 litho tools could be purchased for semiconductor manufacturing, as foundries are seeing high demand for 28nm chips.

Atomic Precision Systems (APS), a little-known semiconductor equipment vendor specializing in deposition technology, has filed a patent infringement suit against Intel, IBM and Micron Technology claiming that they willfully infringed on an atomic layer deposition (ALD) patent held by APS, according to a statement issued by the company's law firm Tuesday.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML said Wednesday it expects a healthy start to 2012, as its customers invest in chip production to drive faster and more powerful smartphones and tablets.

Lam Research has announced plans to buy Novellus Systems in an all-stock transaction valued at US$3.3 billion, as the company sought to expand its market share.

Applied Materials has announced its new Applied Producer Optiva CVD system that enables the manufacture of backside-illuminated (BSI) image sensors used in the most advanced smartphones, tablet PCs and high-end cameras.

ASM International (ASMI) has announced the successful demonstration of a new 14nm high-k gate dielectric process that achieved less than six angstroms equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) at a customer's 14nm R&D line, an improvement of about 40% from the current advanced nodes.

Applied Materials has forecast first-quarter sales and profit that fell short of analysts' predictions, a sign that semiconductor makers are scaling back expansion plans.

ASML has said orders in the fourth quarter will increase from the third-quarter level as customers add capacity and shift to more advanced-technology machines.

Applied Materials announced that Toshiba has purchased its SmartSched predictive scheduling software to improve the capacity and efficiency of its photolithography operations. Installation of the first phase of this breakthrough software solution began in August at Toshiba's Fab 4 facility in Yokkaichi, Japan.

Customers of Novellus have become incrementally more cautious and they have curtailed their expansion plans...

Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter told analysts on a conference call that he is now expecting chipmakers to spend US$1 billion less on new equipment than the company forecast in July. "We've seen demand from our foundry customers soften significantly in the past six weeks," Splitner said.

Completion of the merger is slated for the second half of 2011.

China is putting a competitive squeeze on some of its partners that still use the mainland as a source of low-cost design and manufacturing. Good Will Instrument, a 700-person test and measurement company in Taiwan, is just one of the companies feeling the pinch.

Orders have stalled over the past couple of weeks as semiconductor companies pull back on expansion plans, according to KLA-Tencor. Orders in the fiscal first quarter, which ends in September, will fall as much as 45% from the prior quarter.

"We are seeing significant near term declines in wafer fab equipment spending, and as result our September quarter shipments, revenues and earnings per share will be well below our June quarter results," Lam Research CEO Steve Newberry said.

This particular poker game had a twist - the ante went up every hand and you had to play every hand. If you left the table, you were out of the game. Does the analogy hold true today?

3M has announced the completion of a major expansion of 3M's development laboratory and cleanroom located at its headquarters in Saint Paul, Minn. The expansion includes a 300mm CMP tool and defect metrology for product and application development.

Dutch chip lithography manufacturer ASML reported strong sales in the second quarter, but said new orders in the third quarter would be significantly lower, lending weight to reports of slowdowns in the semiconductor industry.

"What foundries are seeing more and more, and what we're seeing overall, is a very tight linkage to consumer demand. All of us are disappointed with demand for PCs this year, and tablets probably will be 20 million units short of what people thought was possible for the year..."