From Dow Jones, apologies if already posted...
Dow Jones Newswires -- July 30, 1998
Applied Materials Sees DRAM
Supply-Demand In Balance In '99
By MARK BOSLET
Dow Jones Newswires
SAN FRANCISCO -- Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) Chief Executive
James C. Morgan said Thursday he sees supply and demand coming into
balance in the DRAM memory market next year.
Reaching this balance will push the industry to begin adding capacity again,
Morgan said at the BancAmerica Robertson Stephens Semiconductor
Conference here.
The industry, for almost two years, has had excess capacity, and that has
pushed up inventories and pushed down prices. The effect on companies
such as Applied Materials, a supplier of equipment for making
semiconductors, has been slower product orders.
Morgan said the expected business from DRAM companies will be one of
several dynamics to drive growth at equipment companies. Other drivers
will be stabilization in Asia and the expansion of the Internet, which will
increase the demand for chips over the next couple of years.
Semiconductor makers also want equipment to make chips with smaller
circuit widths, to increase productivity, to minimize the environmental impact
of production and that use new materials, such as copper.
Despite the present slowdown in the semiconductor-equipment industry,
Morgan said he believes that "the industry has great potential."
John |
