Hi OJ thought of you when I read this. I have to run. have a good night.
kiwi
ews Alert from Dow Jones Online News via Quote.com
Topic: (NYSE:TXN) Texas Instrs Inc
Quote.com News Item #4822157
Headline: (UPDATE) Taiwan's Texas Instruments-Acer Expects Larger 1997 Loss
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By Russell Flannery
Staff Reporter
HSINCHU, Taiwan -(Dow Jones)- Texas Instruments-Acer Inc., one of
Taiwan's largest makers of computer memory chips, plans to widen its
1997 loss forecast to more than 3 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$91.6
million) from the current forecast of NT$1.87 billion.
Also, it will eliminate overtime work during the upcoming 1998 New
Year's holidays, said the company's chief financial executive Tuesday.
TI-Acer Chief Financial Officer Lora Ho said the moves follow a
collapse in global prices for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, the
widely used type of personal-computer memory chips, and the fall of as
much as 15% in the value of the New Taiwan dollar against the U.S.
dollar in the past two months.
Shares in Acer Inc., the Taiwan computer maker that owns 48% of
TI-Acer, dropped 4.5% in Taiwan Tuesday.
Average international spot prices for 16-megabit DRAM have plunged
from $9 to about $2.50 in the second quarter because of
slower-than-expected demand and a fall in the value of the Korean won,
analysts said. South Korea is the world's largest DRAM maker.
In the past three months alone, spot 16-megabit DRAM prices have
dropped more than 50%. About 30% of Taiwan chip sales of around $5
billion this year will come from DRAMs. The island's industry ranks as
one of the world's five largest.
Citing falling DRAM prices, TI-Acer in October delayed $400 million
of spending on new equipment to make chips, and predicted a 1997 loss of
NT$1.87 billion, reversing an earlier forecast of a net profit of NT$660
million.
Ho also said TI-Acer won't ask employees to work overtime during the
Lunar New Year holidays in late January to boost production. That's a
switch from a year earlier, when the company asked staff to put in extra
hours to meet demand.
TI-Acer isn't the only DRAM maker to cut its 1997 profit forecast.
Last week, Mosel Vitelic Inc. lowered its forecast of 1997 net profit by
42% to NT$2.35 billion. Sales this year will total NT$9.06 billion, down
from an earlier prediction of NT$13 billion.
In addition to Acer Inc., TI-Acer's major shareholders include Texas
Instruments Inc. (TXN), which has a 33% stake, and Taiwan investment
company China Development Corp., which owns 14% of the chipmaker.
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