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To: pompsander who wrote (70516)	4/18/2001 7:56:34 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

I made the general call, in essence last April, the details changes with time. My "February massacre" bottom was not supposed to go beyond 1900 (that was forecasted first I believe last December), and the bounce scheduled then, for today) was supposed to be to 2388. The failure of the 1900 forced me to lower to 2160, and that was done late in mid March when I lowered the target low to 1636 (that one was not "bad"), just before we did go to 1620, when 1850 did not hold. Can't take credit for those bad calls, only for the good on (g). Zeev

To: pompsander who wrote (70516)	4/18/2001 8:03:19 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

AMD easily beats earnings estimates By Jack Robertson, EBN Apr 18, 2001 (2:40 PM) URL: ebnews.com Advanced Micro Devices today reported sales of $1.2 billion and net income of $124.8 million for the quarter ended April 1. Net income amounted to 37 cents per diluted share, or 4 cents higher than the consensus forecast by First Call. The company reported record sales and record unit shipments of PC processors, led by strong sales of its Athlon and Duron processors. Total sales grew by 9% over the like period of 2000 while increasing by 1% from the immediate-prior quarter. In the first quarter of 2000, AMD reported sales of $1.1 billion and net income of $189.3 million, or 55 cents per diluted share. The company noted the tax rate for the just-completed quarter was 32% versus zero in the comparable period of 2000. In the fourth quarter of 2000, AMD reported sales of $1.2, and net income of $177.9 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, with a 15% tax rate. AMD sold more than 7.3 million PC processors, including 6.5 million seventh-generation AMD Athlon and Duron processors, it said. Average selling prices (ASPs) increased from the immediate prior quarter on the richer product mix. Total PC processor sales, at $661 million, increased 17% from both the comparable quarter of 2000 and the immediate-prior quarter. "AMD had an excellent quarter in a challenging economic environment," said W.J. Sanders III, chairman and chief executive officer, in a released statement. "The superiority of our seventh-generation PC processors enabled AMD to achieve record PC processor sales in both dollars and units even as the industry worked through inventory issues in a softening economy," he added. Sales of flash memory products, reflecting a sharp decline in demand from the communications sector of the economy, declined by approximately 10% sequentially to $411 million, but up 26% from the year-ago period. The company said it currently expects that, "in the seasonally slow second quarter for PC sales, the enhanced competitive position of AMD-based solutions will enable maintenance of PC processor unit sales at near-record levels comprised totally of seventh-generation products. The company currently expects PC industry unit growth in the high single-digit range for 2001 as a whole. "Uncertainties regarding the level of demand for flash memory products in a continuing soft communications sector makes forecasting memory product sales extremely difficult. The company currently projects that second quarter sales of flash memory products will decline sequentially. "AMD's other IC products and foundry services, which currently account for less than 10 percent of corporate revenues, will continue their decline both in absolute terms and as a percentage of total revenues. "For the year as a whole, on modest sales growth in a declining market, the company expects to earn $1.50 per diluted share, consistent with First Call consensus earnings estimates." In a conference call with financial analysts, AMD president Hector Ruiz estimated that second quarter revenue could be down as much as 10% sequentially from Q1 '01, but "probably not that much." Sanders attributed any potential drop to weakness in flash memory and a decline in embedded processors and foundry business, offset by microprocessors that are expected to remain steady. Sanders said the revenue projections already factored in AMD's own expected price reductions to counter Intel's expected severe Pentium 4 price cuts. "We'll buttress ourselves against any foolish moves by our competitor. We'll match them {in price] clock cycle by clock cycle," the AMD CEO maintained. Even so, he expected AMD to continue its string of increased average selling price (ASP) for processors, ending the year in the $90 to $100 range. This is up from an ASP of $81 for the last quarter of 2000. Processor ASPs are going up because of increased sales of the highest performance Athlons, and from phasing out the venerable K6II line this quarter. Also starting this quarter all Athlon processors produced by AMD will be at 1-GHz or above clock speed. Sanders confirmed that a 1.4-GHz Athlon will debut this quarter. He claimed that AMD had increased its unit volume processor market share to 21% last quarter, up from a 17% share in the previous period. Sanders said AMD "was on plan" to continue growing its processor market share, but was unlikely reach its previously-announced goal of a 30% share by the end of 2001. He said Athlon chips will continue to be made for the time being on Fab 25's aluminum interconnect line in Austin. As Athlon migrates to higher frequencies requiring copper aluminum, production will be centered in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany, which will be operating at 100% of capacity by year-end. Sanders said AMD plans to convert the Austin fab into making flash memory, which is now produced solely in japan with the firm's joint venture with Fujitsu Ltd. The chieftain said AMD will shrink top-end processor die by starting production in the fourth quarter in Dresden at 0.13-micron processing. Sanders said AMD escaped a big inventory buildup of flash chips when the cellular phone market suddenly tanked at the beginning of the year. "In Q4 '00 we were on allocation on flash and sold every chip we could make. At the end of last year we had the lowest inventory of flash in our history." He said the market downturn has resulted in AMD now building up flash stocks to "normal levels" to support its customers. If the flash market doesn't turn around in the third quarter, he expected AMD would then adjust its production rates. Despite AMD's headlined suit against Alcatel for allegedly failing to abide by long-term contract order guarantees, Sanders said the firm has no other similar order problems with its other 25 long-term flash contracts with customers. He said as the long-term pacts expire on a staggered schedule, they are being renegotiated. AMD estimated that 75 percent of its flash sales were on long term agreements. Sanders said AMD is holding firm to its previously announced $1 billion capital spending plan in 2001, up $200 million from last year. He said more than half of the capex budget will be allocated to expanding capacity at Fab 30 in Dresden and transitioning to 0.13-micron processing.

To: pompsander who wrote (70516)	4/18/2001 10:53:31 PM
From: richard surckla	Respond to of 93625

Intel to preview new workstation, server chip By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com April 18, 2001, 3:25 p.m. PT Intel will show off Foster, the Pentium 4 chip designed for workstations and servers, for the first time next week at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker will demonstrate two-processor workstations running the new chip, which will hit the market commercially later this quarter, a company representative said. Foster will be the first member of the Xeon chip family to be based on the Pentium 4. Current Xeons are based on the Pentium III. The chip will clock in at 1.4GHz or faster and, like other Xeon chips, will feature some enhancements for the workstation market. Workstations featuring the chip will also contain Intel's 860 chipset and Rambus memory. The premiere of the chip at the NAB conference is part of Intel's effort to capture more of the media market. Once dominated by Unix stalwarts such as Silicon Graphics, the digital entertainment market has gravitated toward generally less expensive Intel-based workstations as performance has improved. Overall, Intel is largely concentrating on five workstation market segments, according to a representative: manufacturing, digital media, finance, retail and telecommunications. Foster also will likely serve an important role in helping the company improve its bottom line. Although Intel ships far more Pentiums, Xeons typically sell for more than their desktop equivalents and, as a result, carry heftier profit margins. A 1GHz Pentium III Xeon, for instance, sells for $425 each in quantities of 1,000. By contrast, a standard 1GHz Pentium III sells for $225. Functionally, however, the two chips aren't radically different and cost about the same to produce, analysts have noted. Some Xeon chips for servers contain more cache memory than their desktop equivalents, but these cost even more. Intel also faces almost no competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices in the workstation and server market, although this could begin to change toward the end of the year, when AMD comes out with Athlon chips for servers and workstations. Slow Xeon sales also contributed to the company's decline in revenue and profit in the first quarter of this year. Server chip sales dropped drastically in the first three months, leading to a lower overall average selling price for chips, the company said. Most Xeons are incorporated into servers. Initially, the chip will work only in one- and two-processor machines. Later in the year, chipsets will emerge that will let PC makers create four- and eight-processor servers. news.cnet.com Thanks kennythebus from Yahoo.