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

To: Gottfried who wrote (40734)	12/12/2000 12:31:37 PM
From: Sam Citron	Respond to of 70976

Jubak sees AMAT trough of $36 based on trailing PE of 11.8. moneycentral.msn.com

To: Gottfried who wrote (40734)	12/12/2000 2:52:25 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

UMC plans majority stake in Singapore 300-mm fab project By Faith Hung Electronic Buyers' News (12/12/00 11:12 a.m. PST) HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Silicon foundry supplier United Microelectronics Corp. here plans to be the majority shareholder in a $2.5 billion 300-mm wafer fab in Singapore. UMC chairman Robert Tsao told local reporters here today that his company--the world's second largest silicon foundry supplier--would take a majority stake in the project. On Friday, UMC executives and the chairman of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) are slated to meet with the press to announce details of the 300-mm fab project. According to a news story in Taiwan's Commercial Times, a partner in the project will be STMicroelectronics, which has a large chip-processing complex in Singapore. UMC officials refused to confirm STMicroelectronics' involvement in the 300-mm project. STMicroelectronics, which is based in Geneva, was not available for immediate comment today. In Japan, UMC is partnered with Hitachi Ltd. in a 300-mm foundry venture, called Trecenti Technologies Inc. Last week, the venture announced it has begun shipping products fabricated on 12-inch (200-mm) diameter wafers (see Dec. 4 story). UMC owns a 40% stake in Trecenti, with Hitachi holding the remaining 60%. UMC has also been planning to set up 300-mm fabs in Taiwan's new science-based industrial park located in Tainan. However, UMC officials indicated that the company chosen to build a plant in Singapore in part because that country's government has offered significant incentives, including tax breaks, to lure semiconductor investments. Singapore has some advantages over Taiwan, as the city-state isn't having political tensions and doesn't have earthquakes as often as Taiwan. Also with investments in Singapore is UMC's rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. TSMC has formed a joint-venture 200-mm fab with Philips Semiconductors, a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics NV in the Netherlands, as well as the EDB. The joint venture, called Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd. (SSMC), began preparing its 8-inch frontend line for volume production just 15 months after construction began on the plant (see Sept. 27 story). Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd.--the world's third largest foundry--is in the final stages of equipping its new $2.1 billion 200-mm fab. Chartered plans to expand its capacity in all of its Singapore fabs to a total of 1.4 million eight-inch equivalent wafers per year by the end of 2001 compared to 970,000 in 2000. Recently, Chartered officials told SBN that the company is still evaluating whether or not 300-mm wafers are economical for its targeted system-on-chip applications in communications markets. It has decided to jointly evaluate 300-mm technology with Lucent Technologies Inc. (see Dec. 4 story). --Additional reporting by Semiconductor Business News