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To: David C. Burns who wrote (50470)	2/2/2000 10:03:00 AM
From: phbolton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 53903

Memory makers start to suffer from Intel chip drought The first repercussions of a shortage of Pentium III processors has already begun to make its mark in memory markets. UK memory supplier Future Upgrades said that is already seeing a knock on effect of the chip shortage on prices. A representative of the company said: "Demand is already fairly flat, and I don't think Chinese New Year is going to do anything to firm up the 8 x 8 price. Some are already voicing opinions of a $4 8 x 8 before the end of February." Although some system builders and dealers are switching to Athlons, which are readily available, AMD itself only considers that it has a 20 per cent share of the desktop market, which is the area most affected by the Intel shortages. Meanwhile a source at a large Korean dealer claimed that the country has not seen even hide-nor-hair of Coppermines. He said: "Prices on P3 500, 550, and 600's have gone up about 14 per cent in the last three weeks. The vendors claim they will continue to go up. No reason is given. "Coppermines basically do not exist in the South Korean channel, so that may be part of it. P3 600 and below may be drying up. but AMD Athlons are dropping in price almost daily. In fact, we plan to change our lead systems to Athlon as soon as we nail all the details down." © theregister.co.uk

To: David C. Burns who wrote (50470)	2/4/2000 1:59:00 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 53903

Turnaround In 1999 Puts Semiconductor Industry Back On Solid Ground NEW YORK -- The $144 billion semiconductor industry is once again enjoying the good times after a four-year downturn, according to participants at a Japanese symposium. Last year "proved to be a year of turnaround with all global trends up," said Aubrey Tobey, president of consulting firm ACT International at the symposium in Narita, Japan, sponsored by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. "Electronic system semiconductor content has surpassed that of 1995 with improving average selling prices. Finally, important to all of us here, capital spending has moved with growth into positive territory, laying groundwork for continued expansion near-term." Combined capital spending for semiconductor production by Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies will grow 25% in fiscal 1999, 14% in fiscal 2000 and 9% in fiscal 2001, predicted Hideki Wakabayashi, director and senior analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Pushing the growth in capital spending is the fact that demand outstrips supply. Wakabayashi said that in the case of flash memory chips supply is about 70% of demand; in the case of driver integrated circuits, used for liquid crystal display panels for cellular phones, it is 80%, he said. World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Inc., or WSTS, expects global semiconductor shipments to increase 16% in 1999 to $145 billion, grow 19% in 2000 to $172 billion, expand 16% in 2001 to $199 billion and rise 12% in 2002 to $223 billion. If 1999's forecast made last October is exceeded, the industry organization may make a higher forecast in May, said Tadashi Izumi, chairman of the Japan chapter of WSTS and a general manager at NEC Corp. (NIPNY). The semiconductor boom is being driven by robust demand for personal computers, telecommunications equipment and digital consumer goods. "As the Internet spreads more into society, application expansion will take place," said Hajime Sasaki, chairman of the board of NEC, at the symposium. He mentioned i-Mode phones, which connect to the Internet, as an example of a new application for semiconductors. The bright outlook for the global semiconductor industry comes after difficulties in recent years brought on by overcapacity which resulted in a fall in prices. According to WSTS data, worldwide shipments of semiconductors fell 8.4% in 1998 to $125.61 billion after slight growth in 1997 and an 8.6% fall in 1996. Profits for some companies, notably producers of dynamic random access memory chips, came under severe pressure because of the supply-demand imbalance. Copyright (c) 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.