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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (34423)	2/25/2000 5:41:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Strong demand prompts Cypress Semi to beef up Minnesota fab By EBN staff Electronic Buyers' News (02/25/00, 03:01:33 PM EDT) Cypress Semiconductor Corp. is beefing up its manufacturing capacity to the tune of $210 million to meet growing demand from its networking and telecommunications customers, the company said today. The San Jose chip maker said it will expand its Bloomington, Minn., subsidiary, Cypress Semiconductor Minnesota Inc. (CMI), and transition to 0.21- and 0.16-micron process geometries at a plant there, known as Fab IV. Cypress also will increase its head count at the site by150 employees to a total of 600. The combined moves are expected to more than double capacity at the facility, which accounts for about 42% of the company's total unit volume. Cypress said it is aiming to grow by more than 50% this year and expects to break the $1 billion revenue mark. The company posted revenue of $705.5 million in its latest fiscal year, a 27.1% increase over the prior year. "This is the logical next step in a capacity expansion plan launched by Cypress in early 1999, well ahead of the current demand crush," said Peter Mitchell, operations director for Fab IV in Bloomington. "Our early response to a rapid change in industry conditions, combined with record levels of new product sales, have enabled Cypress to eclipse robust industry growth by a substantial amount." Renewed growth is a welcome sight for the Bloomington facility, which bore the brunt of an $85 million restructuring Cypress undertook in March 1998. Hobbled at the time by trailing-edge process technology, the company closed Fab III in Minnesota, ceased all SRAM manufacturing at its plant in Round Rock, Texas, and moved all memory production to the Fab IV facility.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (34423)	2/26/2000 6:01:00 PM
From: Sonki	Respond to of 70976

January chip equipment orders rise for 3rd month MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb 23 (Reuters) - North American semiconductor equipment makers saw January orders rise for the third straight month to their highest level in almost five years, according to preliminary data reported late Tuesday by trade group Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). SEMI said that an average of $134 in orders were received for every $100 of products shipped, which is the third highest in the history of the report. January bookings rose to a three-month average of $2.2 billion, which is 15 percent above the December 1999 level and 119 percent above $997 million posted in January 1999. ''We are pleased to see the robust order level for equipment. It confirms the strength of the current market cycle,'' Stanley Myers, president of SEMI, said in a statement. The three-month average of worldwide shipments in January 2000 was $1.6 billion, which is 2 percent above the December 1999 level, and 82 percent above the January 1999 shipment level of $890 million. ''Shipments are still having trouble catching up to orders, indicating that many companies continue to build backlog and may have troubles in ramping to meet the extraordinary demand,'' Robert Maire, analyst at Bear Stearns, wrote in a research note to clients. Front-end equipment orders for January showed no signs of slowing at $1.6 billion, up 17 percent from December. However, shipments for front-end equipment rose only a modest 2 percent to $1.19 billion, up from $1.2 billion in December, Maire said. Orders for back-end equipment continue to be strong, rising 11 percent to $597.9 million from $537.7 million in December. Shipments for back-end equipment fell off slightly to $429.3 million from $425.4 million in December. ''We believe robust order trends will continue throughout this year given the healthy demand for semiconductor manufacturing capacity and leading-edge technology,'' Edward White, analyst at Lehman Brothers, told clients in a research note to clients. Applied Materials Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMAT - news), the dominant player in the industry, and the leading maker of front-end production equipment, rose 2-13/64 to close at 181 in trade on the Nasdaq stock market. Front-end equipment makers such as Novellus Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:NVLS - news) rose 1-13/16 to close at 54-7/8 and Lam Research Corp. (NasdaqNM:LRCX - news) shot up 7-11/16 to close at 146-5/8. Both trade on the Nasdaq stock market. Shares of Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NasdaqNM:KLIC - news), a maker of semiconductor assembly equipment, closed up 3-1/8 at 73-7/8 on the Nasdaq stock market.