F.,
Thanks, I suspect that it was a slow news day for the journalist who filed a story without any particulars though the subject was interesting.
With first silicon in 2001, that implies that 300mm equipment would be shipped by 1999 or early 2000. In turn, that leads me to conclude that there's a rather finite length to the current downturn.
Another interesting story, although it may not come to pass during my investing lifetime (which I hope will be another 30 years)...
Quantum Computers - Think Small, Really Small
May 28, 1998 Source: NewsBytes
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation
: Revolutionary " quantum computers" small enough to fit on
the end of a single human hair - yet so powerful they would
exceed the combined power of all the world's computers - could
be a reality within 10 years, says Bruce Kane, research
associate at the University of New South Wales' School of
Physics.
In the UK science journal Nature, Kane has laid out a proposal
for creating just such a quantum computer built from
current-technology solid-state silicon devices - but at atomic
sizes. The proposal involves placing phosphorus atoms into
extremely pure silicon crystals in a precise pattern. "If you can
make things at the atom level, you can use the wonderfully
weird properties of quantum mechanics to do things that
ordinary computers can't," Kane told wire service Australian
Associated Press.
UNSW's semiconductor nano fabrication facility is joining with
the Universities of Queensland and Newcastle, New South
Wales, as well as the University of California at Santa Barbara,
on the project. Funding comes from an Australian university
capital grant and the Australian Research Council. Major chip
maker Intel has also shown interest, according to Kane.
Applications could include super fast credit card transactions,
e-mail, encrypted government documents, company financial
records - and code-breaking on a major scale . Code-breaking
is "what has motivated a lot of people to take the field
seriously," said Kane |
