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To: Amadeo Mendez-Vigo who wrote (8256)	8/21/2000 8:44:04 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

CSMF.SI closed @14.900 +0.700 +4.93% 1,680,000

To: Amadeo Mendez-Vigo who wrote (8256)	8/22/2000 1:39:35 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

Typhoon Bilis To Strike South, East Taiwan Wed Morning SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Typhoon Bilis, currently about 330 kilometers off of Taiwan's southeast, is forecast to strike the island Wednesday morning, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau. Winds near the center of the typhoon are 53 meters a second, or about 120 miles an hour, with gusts up to 65 meters a second, or 145 mph, according to the Central Weather Bureau. At 300 kilometers from the center, winds are 15 meters a second, or 30 mph. Typhoon Bilis is forecast to strike Taiwan near the southeastern city of Taitung Wednesday morning. The eastern counties of Taitung and Hualien and the southern county of Pingtung will bear the brunt of the storm, although torrential rains will spread across the island for the next two days. Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. Taiwan time, or 0000 GMT, maximum winds in Taipei are forecast to be about 75 mph, while in the port city of Kaohsiung, maximum winds will be about 90 mph.

To: Amadeo Mendez-Vigo who wrote (8256)	8/22/2000 9:16:49 AM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9582

08:59 ET Gateway (GTW) 62 1/4: Prudential reiterates STRONG BUY and Single Best Idea rating after meeting with management. Says consumer PC demand remains strong and the company has seen no evidence of any sales slowdown.

To: Amadeo Mendez-Vigo who wrote (8256)	8/23/2000 2:16:12 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

World Q2 chip output capacity rises Apr-Jun -SICAS TOKYO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - World semiconductor production capacity expanded 3.5 percent in the April-June quarter from the previous quarter, reflecting solid demand for mobile phones and personal computers, a global statistical body said on Wednesday. Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS), which compiles data from 50 major global semiconductor makers, said production capacity of MOS ICs (metal-oxide-semiconductor integrated circuits) rose to an average 1,816,000 sheets per week of six-inch wafer equivalents in the second quarter of 2000. That compared to a revised 1,755,000 sheets a week in the first quarter, the SICAS said. Production capacity of bipolar ICs rose 1.8 percent in the second quarter to 313,600 sheets per week of five-inch wafer equivalents, from a revised 308,100 in the preceding quarter. World utilisation of MOS IC facilities stood at 95.5 percent in the second quarter, up 0.3 percentage point from the previous quarter, it said. The world's top chipmakers have been raising capital spending to ramp up production, prompted by boom sales of digital devices. Japan's top chipmakers are set for record investment to boost output capacity this year, amid a shortage of chips for cell phones and expected strong growth driven by the information technology revolution. Three of Japan's top five chipmakers have recently raised capital spending plans from their original forecasts in April, boosting the total to 904 billion yen and surpassing the previous high of 887 billion yen in the 1995/96 business year. The figure could go up even higher, as Toshiba Corp , the nation's second-biggest chipmaker, said on Tuesday it may raise chip capital investment to about 170 billion yen for this business year from an earlier 130 billion yen target. biz.yahoo.com

To: Amadeo Mendez-Vigo who wrote (8256)	8/23/2000 8:26:16 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

Chip firms calm before the storm SEMICONDUCTORS: Past experience has taught the nation's microchip companies to prepare for power outages that could possibly disrupt production lines By Dan Nystedt STAFF REPORTER Years of intermittent power failures that can cause up to NT$100 million per day in damage and lost production have taught Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturers to prepare for the kind of havoc expected with the arrival of the nation's latest typhoon. Last year, several power outages struck the nation, the most devastating of which caused shockwaves in stock markets around the world in the aftermath of the 921 earthquake. Taiwan is responsible for 10 percent of global semiconductor production. The 28 chip companies based in the Hsinchu Science-based Park (·s¦Ë¬ì¾Ç¶é°Ï) alone manufacture approximately 80 percent of the world's graphic chips and 15 percent of its memory chips. Interruptions to this vital link in the global electronics supply line can cause investors to panic, as they did last year during the 921 quake. Although the quake caused minimal structural damage to facilities, nationwide power outages stopped work for three to four days in some areas. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, ¥x¿n¹q) said the temblor and power blackouts cost the company an estimated NT$2.8 billion. According to TSMC spokesperson Guo Shan-shan, the company has put in place a number of measures to protect against similar work stoppages -- including back up power sources for short-term power outages -- and a modified production process that limits damage to chips during power outages. Most of the losses incurred by chip manufacturers hit by any kind of power interruption comes from damage to wafers that are on the line, according to Raymond Wu (§d¥ò«G), senior semiconductor industry analyst at EnTrust Securities (¥Ã©÷ºî¦XÃÒ¨é). "[Taiwan chipmakers] have a lot of good experience on how to minimize damage to the working process," Wu said. He said that when power stoppages send production lines screeching to a halt, semiconductor wafers can be scraped or otherwise damaged. In TSMC's case, the earthquake-induced work stoppage resulted in 28,000 scraped wafers. "Anything on a line when a power outage occurs would normally have to be scrapped," Wu said. He said that most companies would prepare for a possible power outage caused by Typhoon Bilis by slowing down their manufacturing process to minimize line damage. "The weather bureau has already warned companies about the typhoon, so they have time to slow down their lines," Wu said. "There is a big difference between having a warning or not." But TSMC's Guo said that because of the SMIF manufacturing process, her company has continued to run factory lines at full speed. "We don't have to slow the line for the typhoon because of SMIF," she said. "The process allows us to rework wafers that were in progress during a power outage and minimize losses." Hsinchu-based DRAM maker Winbond (µØ¨¹¹q¤l) has prepared for power-related problems as well, said spokesman Mike Liu (¼B«¥ú). The company recently finished building an emergency backup power supply system to ensure that such problems do not crop up in the future. According to reports, the company spent NT$150 million (US$4.7 million) to install additional emergency power generators that can now supply the entire 29,000 kilowatts that its wafer fabrication plants need. "We're not worried about the typhoon," Liu said. taipeitimes.com