aki, here's a recent letter from the president of SEMI, the organization of semi equip mfgrs. He urges global unity...
semi.org
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Asia's Problems Affect Us All
No industry in history has become as global in nature as the
semiconductor industry, and that includes our equipment and materials
suppliers to the industry. It is important, therefore, to retain our global
perspective even when the industry in one region suffers economic
problems.
As a global organization, SEMI recognizes that the current problems of
Asia in general and Korea in particular will have an impact on all of our
members. Our goal is to work on behalf of our membership to insure that
a competitive environment exists in each market segment of the world.
The success of our industry is heavily dependent on the health of our
members and their customers as global trading partners. Thus, any move
on our part to support steps that might help members in other regions of
the world to take advantage of the problems in Asia would be inconsistent
with our charter.
We support the revitalization of the Asian economies that are currently
experiencing distress. In the long term, we believe that the strengthening
of the Asian economy, specifically Korea, will lead to stabilizing
currencies, its overall financial health, and opening markets, thereby
allowing global market forces to determine capital
investments.
With that charter in mind, SEMI supports the efforts of the International
Monetary Fund toward stabilizing the overall Asian economic health and
the efforts of the U.S., Europe and Japan in working to stabilize Asian
currencies.
On the subject of Korea, inputs from everyone participating in the recent
SEMICON Korea exposition were that the mood in this Asian market was
surprisingly upbeat. The timing of the show in late January seemed
unfortunate in terms of the current problems, but in retrospect perhaps
was exactly what our members and their customers needed at this point
in history: An opportunity to get together and focus on new technologies
and future opportunities, which, after all, is what SEMICON is all about.
Kind regards,
Stanley T. Myers |
