That guy is is a joke, let's not bother. Here is an excerpt from a Dow Jones news wire story. The numbers look strange to me. Notice the Corning comment at the bottom.
The latest round of woes - the potential glass shortage - has been the subject of Wall Street rumors for several days. In the wake of the Morgan Stanley rating change, Cymer shares were off 4 1/2. To researchers, however, these latest worries have been built into projections for some time.
"This is really no surprise to us," said Clark Fuhs, an analyst at Dataquest. Nothing has changed adversely in the past six months or so to alter supply projections, Fuhs said.
Dataquest projects 300 deep ultraviolet steppers will be shipped in 1997 and for 1998 about 400, an estimate that takes into account the efforts of semiconductor makers to stretch the use of earlier-generation machines to the new technology. Other experts question whether this extension of i-line steppers will be successful.
In 1998, there should be enough glass to make between 400 and 450 steppers, Fuhs said. More so, if there were no supply constraints in 1997, perhaps as many as 400 steppers would have been built, he said.
In his research note, Deahna also drew a more conservative line on production. He lowered his 1997 stepper forecast to 290 units from 325 and cut his 1998 projection to 475 units from 575. Deahna didn't return a call seeking additional comment.
Several glass producers, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. of Japan and Heraeus in Germany, also couldn't be reached for comment.
A spokesman at Corning Inc. (GLW) of Corning, N.Y., said he was unable to say whether the company projects a shortage in coming months. But responding to strong demand for the glass, Corning is doubling its production capacity by the first quarter of 1998 by expanding its Canton, N.Y., plant and building a new plant in Charleston, S.C., he said. |
