Optimism moves US and global SEMIndexes ahead

MAY 13--Buoyed by positive indicators from the technology industry, the US SEMIndex, a market-weighted equity index of 48 US-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment and materials, was up 4.26% this week, from 195.60 to 203.93, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI; San Jose, CA; www.semindex.org). During the same period, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.42%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) increased 1.65%. The global SEMIndex, which was up 1.13% over the past five days, from 192.21 to 194.39, is a composite index of 66 global SEMI members in the USA, Japan, and Europe.

The global SEMIndex is comprised of public semiconductor equipment, materials, and related-services companies with individual market capitalizations of $50 million (US equivalent) or more. SEMIndex is updated every 1 to 2 minutes throughout the global trading day and maintained on SEMI's Web site.

SEMIndex differentiates the stock performance of global semiconductor-equipment and materials (SEM) public companies from the SOX index, a more semiconductor-specific equity index comprised of 12 US-only chip manufacturers and four of the largest SEM sector US public companies. SEMIndex was initiated on January 4, 1999, at a value of 100. It is produced for SEMI by InvestorCom Inc. (New York).