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

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (32705)	10/2/1999 10:09:00 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Jeffrey, [edited] thank you. I found this interestig >>Silver Lining re: Inventories -- Shutdown of foundries will preclude a Q4 Y2K-related buildup of chip inventory, and minimize the possibility of any inventory burn in H1:00. The situation is unlike 96-97: this is a supply shortage, not a demand issue.< The negative Barron's article on Intel might affect tech, at least briefly. ["Intel NOT Inside"] siliconinvestor.com Gottfried

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (32705)	10/2/1999 4:16:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

[Taiwan Quake] Semicon Makers Outside Taiwan to Increase Production October 1, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Semiconductor makers in Japan, the United States and Korea have started to receive more orders in the aftermath of Taiwan's massive earthquake on Sept. 21. Since production lines already were operating near full capacity before the earthquake, older-generation lines are being returned to operation. The demand for wafers, therefore, is increasing as well. DRAMs have been in dire shortage. Some manufacturers expect demand to surge, and they are starting to secure wafers in advance. Those chips will be shipped around December. (Nikkei Market Access)

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (32705)	10/4/1999 1:31:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Quake update: With fabs back in operation, attention turns to yields Semiconductor Business News (10/04/99, 09:24:09 AM EDT) HSINCHU, Taiwan -- With some of Taiwan's largest chip makers reporting production back at normal levels after September's powerful earthquake, attention is turning to the manufacturing yields inside the restarted wafer fabs. Officials with Applied Materials Inc. and other equipment suppliers here expect to begin seeing yield data from fabs in the coming week. On Saturday morning, Applied Materials Taiwan said more than 93% of its tools in customers' fabs were back in production following the Sept. 21 quake. "Overall our products at customer sites is in good condition," assessed Jack Liu, managing director of corporate operations at Applied's Hsinchu-based subsidiary. Applied's 600 employees in Taiwan--including 350 engineers--worked with fab operators in the country to quickly evaluate and restart production tools. Overall, the fab facilities and production lines were "in better condition than we expected," Liu said in an interview with SBN. To help wafer-processing operations restart, Applied Materials Taiwan asked its parent corporation to give spare parts requests top priority in the company's global supply network, he added. "We anticipated that there might be some damage to our systems, and so we coordinated with our global network to ensure that Taiwan was treated as first priority to supply the parts we needed," Lui said. But as it ended up, few serious problems were found, said the managing director, and tools and processes were restarted. Now, engineers are focused on assessing the yields in those process lines, which typically are running at 90% or better yields, according to some industry analysts. On Friday, UMC Group in Hsinchu said its wafer fabs in the city's science park had returned to "100% pre-earthquake production levels." The pure-play silicon foundry also said it anticipated no future power interruptions impact its production. Power outages were the main cause of plant shutdowns in the week after the powerful quake. UMC officials said they did not anticipate any additional losses in revenues beyond its initial assessment. A week ago, UMC has allocated $10 million to replace damaged glass and quartz tubes and boats along with other materials in its fabs. Because of the loss of electrical power, UMC said its revenues for September would be reduced by as much as 25%, or about $45 million. Insurance was expected to help reduce the net loss from the quake and power outage. In a report released today, Standard & Poor's said Taiwan's gross domestic product growth (GDP) would only be impacted slightly by the quake and the interruption of manufacturing operations. "Despite the severe impact of the earthquake, the medium-term outlook for the economy is more optimistic, as increased government expenditure and investment will provide the impetus for stronger economic growth next year," said John Bailey, an analyst with Standard & Poor's based in Taipei. "The added expenditure on infrastructure is unlikely to create financing problems for the government, since Taiwan has little foreign debt and its foreign reserves rank third in the world behind China and Japan," he added. The report said about 10,000 residential buildings were destroyed or damaged. The report also said two of Taiwan's industries most affected by the earthquake were computer hardware and components sector and the banking sector. The company's insurance companies will be less severely affected and in the longer term may benefit from increased demand, said the report. Overall, structural damage and a loss in industrial production are expected to shave 0.25% from forecast GDP growth for 1999, and the government has trimmed its 1999 GDP growth forecast from 5.74% to 5.5%, said the Standard & Poor's report. Reporting by J. Robert Lineback from the U.S.