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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (102153)	4/8/2000 12:03:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

John, this author thinks Intel could up the ante again this year for capital spending, throw out a figure of $7 billion. After a while, mightn't it make more economic sense to hire a bunch of elves to cobble the chips together? cnetinvestor.com Intel Could Boost Spending to $7 Bln, Analysts Say (Update1) 4/7/00 3:25:00 PM Source: Bloomberg News Santa Clara, California, April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp. may boost capital spending this year by as much as 40 percent to $7 billion, as the world's biggest computer-chip maker looks to raise production to meet demand, analysts said. Intel, expected to be the industry's top spender this year, has said it will spend $5 billion, up from $3.4 billion last year. The biggest component of capital spending for the chipmaker is manufacturing and testing equipment. Chip-equipment suppliers have seen surging orders from Intel in recent weeks, analysts said. The chipmaker's lengthy project list includes plans to install equipment for a test line in Oregon and refurbish a New Mexico plant. Intel will convert one plant in Colorado into a test facility, and equip another to make flash memory, logic chips and other communications and networking gear. The highest estimate is 'not necessarily a stretch in today's dollars,' said Banc of America Securities analyst Brett Hodess, who follows the chip-equipment makers that would supply Intel with tools for its fabrication plants, also known as fabs. 'An Intel fab costs $2 billion (to build). So if they do one more big fab and more upgrades on existing fabs, you get there easily.' Santa Clara, California-based Intel is also speeding up its chipmaking-tool delivery requirements and has put equipment companies on notice of plans to accelerate the buildout of its next plant, Robertson Stephens & Co. analyst Sue Billat wrote in a report today. The company declined to comment on the speculation. Analysts don't expect Intel to address the amount or timing of the spending increase until its next conference call, after its earnings report April 18. Shares of equipment makers have rebounded since the middle of the week, when technology stocks perked up. Applied Materials Inc., the biggest toolmaker, rose 8 3/16 to 114 7/8 today. KLA- Tencor Corp., which builds inspection machines, added 8 5/16 to 97 7/16. Novellus Systems Inc., whose equipment builds up layers of circuits, gained 5 1/4 to 58 1/2. Intel, whose shares have increased 66 percent this year, rose 7 to 136 13/16.