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Technology Stocks : Veeco Instruments-Who? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (2269)	7/14/1999 10:17:00 PM
From: B.G. Mayers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3069

Is Veeco on AMAT's want list? Applied Materials Plans More Acquisitions to Gain Technology San Francisco, July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Applied Materials Inc., the biggest maker of equipment for the semiconductor industry, plans to acquire more companies to gain technology it doesn't have, Chief Executive Jim Morgan said. Targets will include manufacturers whose equipment checks semiconductors for defects and others with tools used to electrically charge the silicon wafers that become chips. Morgan said the companies likely will be small with few or no sales. Applied is accelerating its acquisition pace as customers demand new products to make chips more powerful. Rather than develop the necessary technology in-house, Morgan said he's now willing to pay to gain share in markets where Applied isn't the No. 1 company. ''As our customers outsource more of their problems, we're looking for ways to provide solutions for them,'' Morgan said in an interview at the Semicon West trade show. ''If we don't have it in house, we'll bring it in from the outside.'' Applied has employed the strategy before. It broke into the chip-inspection business with the purchase in 1996 of two Israeli companies, Opal Inc. and Orbot Instrument Inc. That put Applied into direct competition with KLA-Tencor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. Last year, Applied bought Consilium Inc., a software maker, and in May it agreed to acquire Obsidian Inc. to gain a chip- polishing system it didn't have. Morgan still has his sights set on KLA-Tencor and Hitachi, the leaders in chip inspection and process diagnostics. In electrical charging, a process known as ion implantation, he's taking on Eaton Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. ''Those are the areas where we're weakest, so we'll try to beef them up,'' Morgan said. Morgan declined to say how many companies Applied is looking at or when it could make the next acquisition. He did say that it also may buy minority stakes in companies, as with Triant Technologies Inc. last month. To make the investments, Applied could use some of its more than $2 billion in cash, or stock. Its shares, which fell 1 1/8 to 73 yesterday, have risen 71 percent this year. Jul/13/1999 0:07 For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. Any redistribution of Bloomberg content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Bloomberg L.P. Any reference to the material must be properly attributed to Bloomberg News. The information herein was obtained from sources which Bloomberg L.P. and its suppliers believe reliable, but they do not guarantee its accuracy. Neither the information, nor any opinion expressed, constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities.(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. BLOOMBERG, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Financial Markets, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg News Radio are trademarks, tradenames and service marks of Bloomberg L.P.