MEMC INT'L. (WFR -NYSE) The Sleeping Giant? Message Board

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Technology Stocks : MEMC INT'L. (WFR -NYSE) The Sleeping Giant?

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To: Scotsman who wrote (3422)	6/4/1998 12:52:00 PM
From: All Mtn Ski	of 4697

How about 400 mm wafers?: Will the chip industry need 400-mm wafers sooner than expected? By Jack Robertson OSAKA, Japan -- The global semiconductor industry may be forced to jump to 400-mm size wafers soon after the next-generation 300-mm wafers enter production in the next century, a top Japanese chip executive told the Semicon Kansai conference here Wednesday. Sadao Kondo, president of Sanyo Electric Co.'s Semiconductor Group, said the industry may be forced to move quickly to even larger 400-mm wafers, simply to get enough chips to remain profitable with the predicted slower revenue growth rate of the semiconductor industry. He warned that economic trends that have ruled the industry for the past five years--chip revenues keeping pace with the increase with the amount of silicon produced--may no longer apply. "Since 1993 the value of global semiconductor shipments has increased at an annual rate of 17.1%, keeping pace with a corresponding 17.4% annual growth rate in the silicon area under production," he said. "But SIA [Semiconductor Industry Association] is now forecasting only a 5% a year revenue increase through 2012." His call for 400-mm wafers came during the same Semicon Kansai session detailing the many challenges facing the industry is trying to get 300-mm wafers off the ground. Hiroyoshi Komiya, executive vice president of Selete, the Japanese 300-mm consortium, reiterated earlier warnings that qualification and testing of a full 300-mm toolset will be delayed by a year, and initial production of 300-mm wafers will likely start around 2002. pubs.cmpnet.com

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