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To: Kirk © who wrote (4456)	11/27/2000 1:48:13 PM
From: All Mtn Ski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

SSB is totally worthless, as your link shows. They started this whole mess (again) this summer, we are in the mist of a Street created downturn in the semi issues. Industry execs say all is well, and the analysts say the world is over. Where is the truth, and when will the stock prices reflect that? Why is there no accountability in the analyst community (pimps) for being so wrong? Hello Blodget, Meeker, et al, I'm talking to you! Tom

To: Kirk © who wrote (4456)	11/27/2000 8:59:26 PM
From: Jerome	Respond to of 5867

HellsBells... I'm STILL waiting for those "flattening orders".. Here I think we are running into a brick wall of investor sentiment. Since LRCX and NVLS and AMAT and KLAC gave pretty specific guidance for this quarter, large upside surprises are not likely. Somehow this affects the investor psychology of the entire matter. If the BTB stays where its at or increases slightly over the next few months, every analysts will be calling it a peak. (we all know what comes after peaks) In this respect these companies are victims of their own success. I personally believe that the only way to come out ahead is to keep writing covered calls, month after month as these stock rally on some tidbit of news. I get the impression that many thread posters are waiting for a strong sector rally. But the longer we wait the less likely it is to happen. The longer it takes to come about the closer we are to that peak, in the BTB. A thread on SI is entitled "Trade on what You see and not on what You know". It makes a lot of sense to me. What we are seeing is a narrow trading range with at best a two or three day rally followed by a five day decline. Is there any reason to belive that all of a sudden this pattern will change? Of note is the fact that for the past five months I have written covered calls below my purchase price for LRCX, ASYT, LTXX, EGLS, CYMI, & TER. KLIC does not command any premium even for the 12 1/2's so for now its flotsam. A possible indicator for this sector might be CMOS because they report earnings after the close tomorrow, with some big earnings expected (.95) If these kind of earnings do not move a $20.00 stock then we are in for a long cold spring. Regards, Jerome

To: Kirk © who wrote (4456)	11/30/2000 10:54:34 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

TSMC to Process 300mm Wafers at 50 Percent of Full Capacity in 2005 November 30, 2000 (TOKYO) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. revealed its mass production plan for 300mm wafers. TSMC already started the production of 300mm wafers based on a 0.18-micron design rule at its Fab 6 pilot line in November 2000, and now is shipping its products to Altera Corp. in the United States. And it is going to start LSI production using a 0.15-micron design rule in February 2001 on the line. TSMC is going to start its 300mm wafer processing not only at Fab 6, but at Fab 12, Fab 14, and Fab 15, all of which are aiming for 300mm wafer process mass production in rapid succession. As a result, the weight of 300mm wafer process production ability will be raised to about 30 percent of its full capacity in 2003, to about 40 percent in 2004 and about 50 percent in 2005. Ken C. Chen, field technical support and marketing director of the Japan arm of TSMC, said TSMC's aggressive development of the 300mm wafer process lines is aimed at lowering die production costs compared with the 200mm wafer process. Chen said there are two reasons for it. One is that theoretically, more chips per unit wafer area can be obtained from 300mm wafers than from 200mm wafers. And another is the high-yield characteristic. Chen explained that the theoretical number of chips obtained from a 300mm wafer is expected to be 2.3-2.6 times than that of a 200mm wafer. He added that the larger the chip size, the more effective it is to obtain more chips: the area of a 300mm wafer is 2.25 times a 200mm wafer. Therefore, theoretically, "we can get more chips per unit area using 300mm wafers, having nothing to do with the chip size," Chen said. Chen projects that the yield of the 300mm wafer process will be better than that of 200mm wafers after the third quarter of a year period since 300mm wafer mass production was launched. This is closely related to the wafer's defect density. TSMC explains that it found, based on its experience, the particle numbers of the wafers did not have much relation to wafer size as the processes become mature and on the same design rules. So, Chen said, the larger the wafer size, the more effective it is for obtaining high-yield processing. But still, there remains one important subject in order to get lower die production costs. It's necessary to drastically reduce the wafer price itself. Chen points out that the price of 300mm wafers is as high as about 10 times that of 200mm wafers. But Chen of TSMC has an optimistic view that the 300mm wafer price will be naturally reduced in proportion to the increasing use of 300mm wafers by many LSI makers. TSMC said that the consumption of 300mm wafers by the company alone will contribute to reducing the wafer price considerably, and saying that the price of 300mm wafers is supposed to decline to about 2.5 times that of 200mm wafers in the near future, judging from the various information of the transition to 300mm wafer process by many big DRAM makers and microprocessor makers. Related stories: TSMC's 12-In. Wafer Fab Begins Pilot Production TSMC Begins Processing 300mm Client Product Wafers (Nikkei Microdevices)