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Applied Materials retained the top spot of semiconductor equipment suppliers, according to the 2007 rankings by revenue from VLSI Research. Tokyo Electron and ASML remained in second and third spots respectively, the sixth consecutive year all three leading suppliers retained their positions, according to the market research firm.

The Top Ten IC equipment suppliers recorded combined revenues of $33.5B in 2007, compared to $33.5 billion in 2006, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

Some shuffling took place in the middle rankings with Nikon overtaking Advantest for sixth position on increased sales coupled to a decline in revenues at Advantest. Another Japanese supplier, Canon dropped out of the Top 10 rankings for the first time in many years, falling one position to eleventh even though revenues increased slightly to $1.309 billion in 2007, compared to $1.287 in 2006.

The biggest mover was Hitachi High-Technologies, which climbed from eleventh position in 2006 to reach ninth in 2007 on revenues of $1.445 billion.

On a regional basis, the major U.S. based equipment suppliers accounted for 47 percent of the combined group revenues, a one percentage point gain over 2006. The two European companies (ASML and ASM International) together accounted for 16 percent of the Top 15 revenues, another one percentage point over 2006. Japanese suppliers represented 37 percent, a decline of 2 percentage points compared with 2006.

IC equipment supplier’s revenue includes sales of systems used to manufacture semiconductors, thin-film heads, MEMs, as well as service, support, and refurbished systems, according to VLSI Research.