07 Feb 15:12
By Deborah Finestone
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Ibis Technology Corp. (IBIS) jumped 20%
Monday on talk that the semiconductor wafer maker would benefit from the newly
announced "Cell" chip from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Sony
Corp. (SNE) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO).
Ibis has made no announcements to account for the rise in the share price,
said spokesman Bill Schmidt. As for the chip, Schmidt said, Ibis is always in
discussions with manufacturers, but has said nothing to indicate any kind of
agreement dealing with the Cell chip.
"But that should have some promise," he said about the talks.
The new breed of computer chip, dubbed Cell, is designed to supercharge
digital media and computer graphics. Cell is being targeted for use in Sony's
next videogame machine - expected as early as 2006 - and digital TVs and DVD
players, according to The Wall Street Journal. But the technology also is
expected to be adapted for products ranging from high-performance computers to
cellphones.
The prototype chip is fabricated with 90-nanometer silicon-on-insulator
technology, according to a joint press release from IBM, Sony and Toshiba on
Monday. Initial production of the Cell microprocessors is expected to begin
this year at IBM's wafer fabrication facility in East Fishkill, N.Y., followed
by Sony's Nagasaki, Japan, facility.
Ibis uses a technique for manufacturing SOI wafers called separation by
implantation of oxygen, or Simox, where an oxygen implanter creates a very thin
insulating layer within the wafer, just below a thin layer of silicon on the
top of the wafer.
The new Cell chip "may be good news for us because we're an equipment
manufacturer that ultimately sells the equipment to produce that wafer - if it
uses Simox," Schmidt said. "People could be speculating this will have a major
impact on our equipment business."
An analyst who used to cover Ibis also cited the IBM-Sony-Toshiba
announcement as a possible reason for the price movement.
Officials at IBM did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Sony and
Toshiba representatives couldn't be reached.
Shares of Ibis recently traded at $3.36, up 56 cents, or 20%, on volume of
1.2 million. The average daily volume is 264,800 shares.
-By Deborah Finestone, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2205
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-07-05 1512ET |
