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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (40286)	12/1/2000 5:30:30 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Brian, Thanks, I wasn't complaining or criticizing, just curious re your definition of tertiary. In the context you use, yes, PRIA fits that bill. As I finish up my late start to today's surfing, I came across another SmartMoney story which may, or may not, have had some impact today. It was first published there sometime yesterday. ... Indeed, Kulicke & Soffa first announced it was seeing order deferrals in August, while Applied Materials, the leading front-end company, said only last week that first-quarter orders would decline 10% sequentially and revenue would be flat with the fourth quarter. But while the next few months could be tough for equipment makers, there's a hint of long-range optimism to this picture. If analysts and execs such as Credence's Siddall are correct in their assumption that order growth will improve next year, so could stock performance. Therefore, long-term and value investors who are willing to buy and sit on a quality chip-equipment that probably won't do much in the short-term could end up being "rewarded quite handsomely" when the industry turns up again, Pang says. In addition, even as chip-equipment makers push their way through this period of softer growth, their chip-making customers are still spending money on new technologies, Pang says. The equipment makers that offer the right technologies now should fare relatively better in the slump and will be the ones to watch in the rebound. Those technologies revolve around some new chip-making trends. First, there's the transition to larger 300-millimeter silicon wafers from the current 200-millimeter size. This allows chip makers to squeeze more chips onto a single wafer. Then there's the move to smaller chip features, such as thinner circuitry. Chip makers are also starting to use different materials in semiconductors that should improve chip performance, including copper wiring instead of aluminum, and something called low-k dielectric for insulation instead of glass. "So, we are seeing all these technological changes and there are only certain companies that are exposed to these areas," says Pang, who cites Brooks Automation (BRKS), PRI Automation (PRIA), Applied Materials and Novellus Systems (NVLS) (although he doesn't cover Novellus) as companies that should weather the stormy industry environment better than others. "They will continue to see some level of buying throughout the downturn and they will be the first to recover in the upturn and will be more highly leveraged to benefit." ...