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To: John Graybill who wrote (49121)	10/8/1999 1:04:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53903

Higher Chip Prices Helped Taiwan Semiconductor Make It Through Quake Dow Jones Newswires TAIPEI -- Computer-chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said Friday that September revenue rose 38% despite production losses from a devastating earthquake. The firm hinted high prices for its chips in its aftermath of the quake helped compensate. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reported unaudited revenue in September of 6.11 billion New Taiwan dollars ($192.4 million), up from $4.43 billion Taiwanese for the same month a year ago. Revenue in the first nine months of the year rose 28% to $49.4 billion Taiwanese. The company said September revenue fell about 10% from August because of the earthquake and ensuing power outage in Taiwan. Taiwan Semiconductor is the island country's largest manufacturer of computer chips. Taiwan is the world's fourth-biggest maker of semiconductors, accounting for as much as 15% of the total output of dynamic random access memory chips, or DRAMs. Spot prices for DRAMs are seen falling over the coming week, dragged down by distributors reducing inventory after prices came off recent highs, industry experts said. Prices had soared in the wake of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked Taiwan last month. The quake, the island's most destructive in dollar terms, downed power supplies and halted production at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, the island's high-tech center, worsening the already-tight supply of DRAM chips Eight-inch 64 megabit DRAM chips, the industry standard, are currently trading around $14 a chip on the spot market, compared with $18 a week previously and down further from the high of $21 following the recent earthquake, according to dealers. In the coming week, the price of a 64MB chip will likely continuing falling to around $12, dealers said. "$20 was abnormal," said Alfred Ying, an electronics analyst at Primasia Securities in Taipei. "So when prices started to fall (over the past week), most distributors dumped inventory." Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.