This should stop the worries about PC demand.
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 17:38:19 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) clarifies plant delay explanation
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(reuters) - Intel Corp said that it
is delaying the opening of its $1.3 billion plant in Fort
Worth, Texas due to a product switch at another plant in
Israel, not due to weakening demand for flash memory chips.
Intel said the plant in Texas was scheduled to make logic
chips, which will now be switched to Israel, because the plant
in Israel is closer to volume production.
"It means the capacity that Texas represented won't be
needed until the future," said an Intel spokesman, clarifying
previous reports on the plant.
"The unit demand for flash remains high."
He added that there are many new entrants and the
competition is very aggressive but that industry analysts
forecast flash memory will grow in the future.
Intel will counter the competition in flash with new
products and by being aggressive in pricing and supply, he
said, but he said Intel is not forecasting weak demand.
The plant in Israel was to make flash memory chips but
Intel said that the plant will now make logic and micrprocessor
chips.
"The reason it was switched is the growing demand for
microprocessor products and we can be in production and online
in Israel quicker because the factory construction is further
along," said Howard High, the Intel spokesman.
He said the Israel plant was started about a year earlier
than the Texas plant.
Copyright 1997, Reuters News Service |
