Applied Materials sees growth in China

Applied Materials, the world’s biggest supplier of solar panel production machines and computer chips, sees China as remaining an important target for growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Chief technology officer Mark Pinto said: "I thought personally that this year was going to be a down year, but it will be bigger than two years ago." The company earlier reported a swing to net profit in the second fiscal quarter ended May 2 after a doubling of revenue when an uptick in demand for mobile phones and PCs made up for shortfalls in the solar panel market. Applied Materials is planning for an increase in Chinese demand for solar power. The company signed an agreement to sell equipment to China’s ENN Solar Energy for a new solar power farm in Inner Mongolia which is to be built by China Energy Conservation & Environmental Protection Group.