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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ian@SI who wrote (31679)	7/29/1999 10:52:00 PM
From: William Griffin	Respond to of 70976

WAY OFF TOPIC Lead story on Mexican television tonight. Gunman Opens Fire in Atlanta, Killing 12 Before Eluding Police Associated Press ATLANTA -- A man described as irate over stock-trading losses, opened fire in two brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 12 before escaping. Three relatives of the suspect were found shot to death in their suburban home. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we are all nuts.

To: Ian@SI who wrote (31679)	7/29/1999 11:37:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

To counter your cold water........... Chip market to double in five years Dispatches from BancBoston Robbie Stephens The market for chip equipment will double over the next five years to $35 billion, Jim Morgan, chief executive of Applied Materials (AMAT: news, msgs), said during a luncheon speech Thursday at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens semiconductor conference in San Francisco. The growth will be led by chips for servers, cell phones and consumer gadgets. The growth rate for sales of these chips is expected to be twice that on chips for personal computers. "Semiconductors are the engine of the information age," Morgan said. Applied Materials (AMAT: news, msgs) Chief Financial Officer Joseph Bronson said continuing consolidation in the DRAM industry should eventually firm up capacity, but the company expects to produce below capacity for fiscal 2000, Bronson said. Applied Materials also must reduce materials costs as a percentage of revenue going forward, he added. The company is slated to report third-quarter numbrs Aug. 17. The First Call consensus profit estimate is 53 cents a share. KLA-Tencor (KLAC: news, msgs) Executive VP Robert Boehlke said his company will continue to add products to its portfolio. "Asia Pacific has been unusually strong for us," he also said. KLA's gross margins continue to show improvement and Boehlke said he believes this trend will continue. And R&D costs will slowly fall to 35 percent, he added. cbs.marketwatch.com

To: Ian@SI who wrote (31679)	7/30/1999 12:08:00 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Ian, re >Global sales of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment fell 8.4% on year in May to $1.45 billion< Ah, the innocuous phrase on year. If that means May '99 was 8.4% less than May '98, then that statement can be made for SEMI's reported shipments for the last 13 months. That sounds terrible, completely ignoring the fact shipments have risen each of the last several months and orders show an even stronger month to month improvement. [I realize the numbers below are only worldwide shipments of North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment]. Gottfried SEMI monthly shipments in $ millions 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 JAN 677 1257 1034 1458 890 FEB 705 1243 1029 1369 845 MAR 861 1256 1102 1370 944 APR 961 1354 1261 1416 1099 MAY 1025 1366 1299 1361 1179 JUN 1014 1354 1375 1266 1170 JUL 1044 1311 1476 1112 AUG 1054 1248 1536 1012 SEP 1113 1119 1672 846 OCT 1135 1072 1793 852 NOV 1223 1062 1598 932 DEC 1305 1069 1559 921