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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: puborectalis who wrote (62456)	9/22/1999 2:31:00 AM
From: ynot	Respond to of 120523

Yen corrected :) techstocks.com ynot ;)

To: puborectalis who wrote (62456)	9/22/1999 2:37:00 AM
From: red_dog	Respond to of 120523

Just buy the ones that make the other half! I'm sure there are a few good ones right here. Rg

To: puborectalis who wrote (62456)	9/22/1999 2:53:00 AM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 120523

Wednesday September 22, 2:33 am Eastern Time Quake compromises Taiwan chip output, prices soar By Sarah Davison TAIPEI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan's giant earthquake has knocked out the island's semiconductor industry for at least two weeks, costing $350 million in lost production and pushing up the price of chip products worldwide, analysts said on Wednesday. All semiconductor companies will be affected, but those especially hard hit are chip plants located in Hsinchu Science Park in the island's north, and companies located in Taichung, close to the quake's epicentre. At least 23 of Taiwan's 26 integrated circuit (IC) plants are located at Hsinchu, which is expected to remain without power or water for another two days. Telephone contact is intermittent. ''The IC companies in Hsinchu have very little tolerance to this kind of disaster,'' said Leonard Hsueh, research chief at SinoPac Securities. Companies with facilities in Taichung are expected to suffer most. Analysts said Siliconware Precision Industries and Macronix International Corp have warned of production problems. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM - news) said wafer output would drop 10 percent this month. The loss of power is the greatest hurdle; power authorities have warned that electricity supply will remain unstable for at least two weeks. Production has also been compromised by continuous aftershocks, which are battering the island and throwing sensitive chip-making equipment out of kilter. This will pose quality control problems even for chipmakers who have an independent power supply. Analysts said production was unlikely to restart for as long as there was a threat of aftershocks, contributing a loss of at least 50 basis points to Taiwan's quarterly economic growth figures. ''Any product still in the product line will not be useful, and all the equipment will have to be adjusted. That will take half a month,'' said Oliver Fang, head of institutional sales at National Securities. Taiwan's top economic planner, Chiang Pin-kung, told Reuters on Wednesday it would be difficult to attain this year's growth target of 5.74 percent, recently upgraded from an earlier estimate of 5.1 percent due to surging exports. Chip inventories could sustain revenues for the short term, but thereafter lower production could cause at least a 10-percent decline in revenues throughout September and October, Fang said. Analysts said makers of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips will be more affected than foundry chip makers, whose wafer production facilities run intermittently, but the prices of all IC products will rise sharply. Taiwan contributes more than 65 percent towards global capacity of integrated circuit products, most of which are high value parts used in a wide variety of electronic products. IC products make up eight percent of the global electronics capacity. ''That is a substantial impact,'' said Hsueh of SinoPac. Price projections for a 64-megabit DRAM chip range from US$17 to US$20 in the next few days. Thereafter, consolidation could shave off some gains, but even the most bearish analysts said prices would remain at a minimum of $15 for the next few weeks. ''Prices will remain tight until year-end,'' said Peter Tsao, head of research at ING Barings in Taipei. Foundry chip products - most of which are priced on a contract basis - are also expected to rise. Using an eight-inch wafer board as a rough benchmark, analysts said prices could rise at least 10 percent from current levels of $3,000. Annual year-end price increases could be brought forward to October, raising the price of global computer products just in time for the Christmas sales bonanza.