Hi cb,
I don't see any quick fix to the general doldrums in the semi industry so I'm not concerned about screening stocks right now.
I am waiting for signs of life to become more motivated to start
a list of lesser known stocks.It is interesting witnessing this semi-bear growling around during the "age of the chip".The phenomenal growth of the computer industry may have brought in too many players desiring to get a piece of the $$ pie ,but, I really don't know if it's as simple as too many cooks spoiling the semi-broth.
Yet another chip glut article:
S.Korea's Hyundai cuts chip output due to glut
09:19 a.m. Jun 03, 1998 Eastern
By Jean Yoon
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. said Wednesday it was cutting computer chip production because of a global glut, and South Korea's two other big chipmakers said they might do the same.
Hyundai said it shut down its semiconductor plant on the outskirts of Seoul for one week starting Wednesday -- the first among the nation's three big chipmakers to take such action to reduce a worldwide oversupply of memory chips.
''We want to set a precedent for the other chipmakers to follow to address the oversupply problem we are facing,'' said a Hyundai spokesman. ''The cutback in production would reduce the world's total supply of dynamic random access memory chips by about 10 percent this month.''
South Korea produces 57 million 16-megabit DRAMs and 23 million 64-megabit DRAMs annually. Hyundai's share of the total is 19 million 16-megabit DRAMs and eight million 64-megabit DRAMs.
South Korea's top three chipmakers -- Samsung Electronics, LG Semicon and Hyundai -- control more than 30 percent of the world's DRAM market. All three belong to the country's giant family-owned business conglomerates.
Industry officials welcomed Hyundai's move, calling it a step in right direction.
They said active capacity expansion, coupled with a fall in demand for personal computers and a slowing world economy, had created a serious glut in the semiconductor industry.
The average spot price of 64-megabit DRAMs halved to $9 from $17-$18 at the beginning of this year. The price of 16-megabit DRAMs fell to below $2 from $4.
LG Semicon spokesman Lee Baek-soo told Reuters his company was considering cutting back production.
''We haven't set the dates yet but we are thinking of reducing production,'' he said. ''In this state of oversupply, we would welcome any company voluntarily cutting supply.''
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest DRAM producer, is also considering reducing output and may announce its plans next week, said Lee Eun-kyong, a company spokeswoman.
''We believe Hyundai's action was desirable to resolve the issue,'' she said. ''We will probably have an announcement regarding the cutback next week.''
Industry officials and analysts said chipmakers need to reduce production to stop memory prices from falling any further.
''Hyundai made a smart move,'' said a senior official at the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. ''We need more companies to follow Hyundai's action. That would really help prices.''
Jeon Byong-seo, a semiconductor analyst at Daewoo Securities, agreed. ''It would give a psychological boost to prices, but it is likely to provide only temporary relief,'' he said. ''Some companies may take this opportunity to expand production, offsetting any possible gains.''
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