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Technology Stocks : Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates -- VSEA -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (1387)	5/7/2001 12:21:13 PM
From: dantecristo	Respond to of 1929

AURELIO: The SHC 80 was a single wafer high current machine that was introduced as a three hundred millimeter alpha tool concept several years ago, maybe three. I don't recall the exact time. I don't know what ULE means. We never had a product called ULE. The Viista80 is the current evolved version of the SHC 80 and is the production version of that earlier concept. FALCON: Is that a successful product? AURELIO: It's a brand new product and the three hundred millimeter market in general has been delayed by at least two years, possibly more, well documented with Sematech and -- S-e-m-a-t-e-c-h -- and the I300I international consortia. FALCON: So, is that yes or a no? AURELIO: It means the market has been delayed and, therefore, there has been no market for three hundred millimeter tools. FALCON: Is that a marketing problem or is that a manufacturing problem? AURELIO: I don't believe I characterized it as a problem. FALCON: Was the SHC80 a successful product? McMAHON: Objection. Vague. You can answer the question. FALCON: I understand that was a forerunner of the Viista80. McMAHON: Objection. Vague. Is there still a question pending? FALCON: Yeah. That was a clarification of the question. AURELIO: Define success. FALCON: Did it make a profit? AURELIO: No. FALCON: Has the Viista80 made a profit? AURELIO: On an individual basis or -- FALCON: Yes. AURELIO: On an individual basis? FALCON: On an individual basis. AURELIO: Yes. FALCON: What other basis were you asking me? AURELIO: Your question. FALCON: Okay. Has it lost money on any basis? AURELIO: Has which lost money on any basis? FALCON: The Viista80. AURELIO: That's proprietary information. FALCON: So, that it made money is not proprietary and whether it lost money is proprietary; is that what you are telling me? McMAHON: Objection. Argumentative. AURELIO: Aside from being argumentative, we don't reveal individual profit abilities, we don't reveal individual gross margins, we don't reveal individual sales activity on any of our product lines. And I sure as hell don't intend to start doing that in this deposition. FALCON: Well, maybe you can do it this way. Is the Viista80 more or less successful than the Genus MEV? AURELIO: It's proprietary information.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (1387)	5/7/2001 2:05:42 PM
From: ima_posta2	Respond to of 1929

ACLS awarded a $50M ion implanter contract!!! Monday May 7, 5:13 am Eastern Time Israel's Tower awards contracts to U.S. firms TEL AVIV, May 7 (Reuters) - Israel's Tower Semiconductor said on Monday it had awarded contracts worth over $70 million to two U.S. semiconductor industry suppliers to provide equipment and systems to its new chip plant in northern Israel. Tower said Massachusetts-based Axcelis Technologies Inc (NasdaqNM:ACLS - news) would supply ion implanters in a deal worth more than $50 million over the next two years. PRI Automation Inc (NasdaqNM:PRIA - news), also based in Massachusetts, would provide factory automation systems, software and services in a contract worth $22 million over four years. Tower recently began constructing a $1.6 billion plant to produce up to 33,000 200-mm wafers per month in geometries of 0.18 micron and below. Tower is an independent wafer manufacturer focused on advanced flash memory.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (1387)	5/8/2001 8:44:27 AM
From: dantecristo	Respond to of 1929

VSEA CEO attempts to dump millions AGAIN! 27-Apr-01 AURELIO, RICHARD A President, Director, Chief Executive Officer 50,000 VSEA Proposed Sale (Form 144). Estimated proceeds of $2,200,000. Is it the fascist frivolous malicious VSEA SLAPP? Is it the $39K in "damages" for reading, contemplating and discusssing message board postings after millions spent litigating? Is it Susan B. Felch's confession that the inside of a Varian bathroom could have been videotaped? Remember the last time the pusillanimous CEO of VSEA dumped?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (1387)	5/9/2001 2:13:07 PM
From: Sidney Street	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1929

I followed up with VSEA Inv. Rel. on this IBM announcement re: using ion implantation to improve LCD panel quality; they could not comment but called my noticing the news "a good catch" and said that their equipment was suitable for that kind of process. Also mentioned a similar application for camera lens treatment. Is this a potentially big deal, or would it be a small side business opportunity? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> IBM Scientists Report Significant Breakthrough in Computer Display Manufacturing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 5, 2001 New technique replaces century-old process; could save millions for producers of high-end displays Yorktown Heights, NY, May 3, 2001...IBM researchers have discovered a new process for manufacturing computer displays that can vastly improve screen quality and viewing angles while saving manufacturers millions of dollars. The breakthrough holds the first real potential to replace a nearly century-old technique that all manufacturers currently use to build display products. As reported in the May 3 issue of the journal Nature, IBM has demonstrated a new non-contact method that uses beams of ions -- electrically charged atoms -- to align the liquid crystal molecules inside the flat-panel liquid crystal displays used in portable and desktop computers and other electronic devices. The new method is the first to replace a process discovered 95 years ago that proved when a substrate is rubbed, it forms a pattern that the liquid crystals align to. Although scientists cannot fully explain how this rubbing process works, it has been used for building displays with LCDs for about 20 years. IBM is considering licensing the patented process to other manufacturers in the $20 billion per year flat-panel display industry and expects to have converted the pilot-line it used to develop this new technique into a full-blown production line by the end of the year. <snip> www2.ibmlink.ibm.com