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

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (36785)	8/15/2000 12:40:49 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Now if only there was an easy way to get a hold Mr. Doug Andrey's reports (or at least summary data at SIA). For example, it would be nice to know what percentage of chip makers' revenue is spent on equipment.

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (36785)	8/15/2000 10:19:48 AM
From: Tony Viola	Respond to of 70976

Jeffrey, >The Financial Times delivers a clear message: The end is NOT nigh! Besides that one, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (I think) came out with a report that I heard described briefly on CNBC. What sticks out the most was that the industry wouldn't peak until LATE 2002. They went on to recommend a few stocks, all chip makers (that I heard) like TI, NSM, maybe Atmel. Looks like a bunch of them are coming out now in defense of semis, maybe in response to the cheap foul SSB committed. A stat I think I heard (gotta get a headset for the TV that I can shave, etc. around ;-)) was +35% growth this year, which I would think is upped from some previous number. Tony

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (36785)	8/15/2000 3:39:27 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Expansion of Taiwan LSI Production Depends on Test Equipment Companies August 15, 2000 (TOKYO) -- The expansion of LSI production in Taiwan depends on processing capabilities of testing equipment companies, said Satoru Oyama, senior analyst, Japanese research of ABN AMRO Securities (Japan) Ltd. Taiwanese LSI makers are busily expanding production capacity. For example, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., an LSI maker specializing in the foundry business, made a US$4.8 billion capital investment in 2000. However, Taiwanese LSI production capacity depends on how many improvements can be expected at testing equipment companies in terms of their processing capabilities. In Taiwan, different companies take care of each of the three processes of LSI production: upstream process to treat wafers, downstream process to package chips, and testing process. LSI producers have made enough capital investments both in the upstream and downstream processes. However, they have not made appropriate capital investments in the testing process necessary to catch up with the expanded production. Testing companies have not undertaken sizable capital spending because they are suffering from fierce price competition. There is a grave concern among Taiwanese LSI industry players that testers of semiconductors will be in short supply. Testing companies, such as ASE Testing Inc. and ChipMOS Technologies Inc. , submitted to LSI makers their future installment plans of semiconductor testers to appeal to them as part of their marketing strategy and let it be known that they are looking to increase their processing capability. Makers of semiconductor testers shipped to Taiwanese testing companies are from certain companies. By product categories, most testers for DRAMs are made by Advantest Corp. Those for logic LSIs are made either by Agilent Technologies Inc. or Teradyne Inc., both of which are American makers. It is obvious that shipments of their testers will greatly affect Taiwanese LSI production capability. Most testers for logic LSI are made by American companies. This is because most users of testing equipment companies are American fabless LSI makers. Testing companies introduce testers that can satisfy the testing conditions specified by users. Accordingly, more American semiconductor testers will be introduced into Taiwan to meet the requirements set by American fabless LSI makers, Oyama said. (Motoaki Ito, Deputy Editor, Nikkei Electronics)