Excimer lasers are increasingly being used as light source for
lithography tools for microchip manufacture. According to the Sematech
roadmap (http://public.itrs.net/), the 248nm wavelength is already
widely established, while the shorter 193nm wavelength is increasingly
being introduced in fabs. Immersion technologies for 193nm are being
researched at present with potential introduction in 2007. Later on,
157 nm excimer lasers are expected to be introduced despite Intel's
rejection of the 157nm technology node. EUV techniques which do not
use lasers as illumination sources are expected to be introduced
around 2011. Hence, it can be expected that the use of excimer lasers
at all three wavelengths (248, 193 and 157nm) will greatly increase in
the semiconductor industry over at least the next 5 years.

What I want to know is:

1. what is the present (2005) geographical worldwide distribution of
248 and 193nm lithography tools, categorised as follows: US, UK, rest
of Europe, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Philipines, South
Pacific.

2. Who are the main microchip manufacturers in the above geographical
areas, how many fabs and what is their product

3. What are the projected future lithography tool numbers, separated
for 248, 193 and 157nm for the next 5 years in each of the above
geographical areas? Where will the main growth take place?