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Technology Stocks : Lam Research (LRCX, NASDAQ): To the Insiders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jong Hyun Yoo who wrote (4065)	4/17/2000 8:53:00 PM
From: Jong Hyun Yoo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

Bullish comments from Novellus CEO: Novellus CEO Hill on Chip-Equipment Trends, Orders: Comment By Cesca Antonelli San Jose, California, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Novellus Systems Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Hill comments on trends and orders for semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. Novellus's tools build layers of circuits on chips. Hill made his remarks on a conference call with analysts today after the company said first-quarter profit rose sixfold to a record $57.5 million, or 45 cents a share, from $9.43 million, or a split-adjusted 8 cents, a year ago. Sales more than doubled to $247.1 million from $115.2 million. On the shift to make chips on larger, 12-inch (300-millimeter) wafers: ``After the close of the quarter, we had major wins on the 300mm platform, and we expect additional market share gains as the industry switches to 300mm from 200mm going forward. By the end of third quarter, we will have a complete suite of products, with 300mm tools available for the most advanced customers that are accelerating implementation of 300mm. By time we get to fourth quarter, it could be 10 percent of revenue. Given where it's been on the back burner, that's pretty significant.' On producing chips with copper wires, rather than aluminum: ``I see the adoption of copper accelerating in the third and fourth quarters this year, and I think that it bodes extremely well for Novellus. As more and more (chipmakers) explore the boundaries of performance with copper, it is clearly the material of choice for integrated circuits, and the industry is going to move there more and more quickly. If you look at (a circuit), about 40 percent of the layers are metal. Novellus did not compete in the metal layers until recently. As the world shifts to copper, any market we gain is really growth. All we've got to do is execute, and I think we're doing that.' On improving orders from Japan: ``I'm always bullish on Japan. What we see now is increasing investment in orders to be able to catch back up as they become more sensitive to cost and less to allegiances to long-term suppliers they've traditionally demonstrated. They're more and more open to companies like Novellus, like Lam Research (Corp.), like SpeedFam-IPEC (Inc.) that offer superior performance and lower costs. We're seeing that now.'