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To: Road Walker who wrote (92188)	11/12/1999 8:45:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

Morning John, article..As Dust Settle Taiwan Gears-up for Full Production to Meet Holiday Demand SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Several leading semiconductor equipment and chip producers reported business is back and ready to meet the holiday demand following one of the most damaging earthquakes to rock Taiwan this century. The news from leading CEOs whose companies have major ties to the region is viewed as very promising. Taiwan produces more than ten percent of worldwide production of semiconductor chips. Initial reports following the quake that shook Taiwan at 1:47 a.m. on September 21, was of tremendous devastation, shattered homes, loss of life, lost production and severely damaged facilities. In turn, the damage to chip plants was expected to cripple production of critical components, which are used to power many of the world's essential electronic applications including PCs, telecommunications, workstations, networks, data storage and other key applications. "We are particularly saddened by the loss of life and personal hardships for the industrious and courageous people of Taiwan," commented Papken Der Torossian, chairman and CEO of Silicon Valley Group (Nasdaq: SVGL). "We will pray and hope that our personal efforts and corporate activities will ease the pain and help the families and individuals look forward to a brighter and more prosperous future." SVG has a large installed base and several facilities throughout Taiwan and Asia as a whole. "At Genus we were shocked to hear about the earthquake and concerned for our customers and friends," said William Elder, president and CEO of Genus (Nasdaq: GGNS). "One indicator we have tracked is customer support requests from our installed-base throughout Taiwan. The damage to Genus equipment has been very minor. This pleases us since it means our customers have faired well." Genus is an innovator in thin-film equipment. In terms of damage, according to Ken Hurley, president of Nanya U.S., " Nanya was very fortunate, with some minor wafer loss being the only damage incurred at our facilities in Taiwan, and we were back in production within hours of the earthquake. That is overshadowed, however, by the human tragedy. Our deepest concern goes out to those who were touched by this disaster. The personal losses will always be felt by those affected, but the people of Taiwan are resilient and I am confident that they will re-establish their infrastructure and come out of this even stronger." Nanya Technology is a major DRAM manufacturer in Taiwan. "Overall our customers have rebounded quickly from the earthquake in Taiwan," explained Michael Kucher, senior vice president for worldwide technical sales and marketing and strategic business development for SEZ (SWX: SEZN). "Within hours of the quake, SEZ created and implemented its SEZ/ICS Rescue Team, which offered free service and support for our numerous installed systems that may have been knocked off-line or malfunctioned as a result of the quake," he continued. "Fortunately, there was very little need for the rescue team, and we are relieved to report that our customers resumed normal production within days of the disaster." SEZ is a market leader in semiconductor spin processing for frontside and backside applications. According to Dataquest industry analyst Clark Fuhs, "Overall, the industry has responded well. Wafer starts are close to 100 percent capacity." SEMI president Stan Myers commented in a memo to SEMI members worldwide that initial assessments indicated minimal structural damage to the local fabs. "The emphasis now is on returning power supply and fully evaluating equipment," he said. "As Taiwan prepares for the resumption of fab and assembly operations, the important relationships and spirit of mutual support is ever-more critical."