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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (48589)	6/30/2001 8:55:43 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Foundries flattened by downturn While many silicon foundry providers hope the market will recover in the second half of 2001, fab utilization rates among these vendors continue to fall to new and record-low levels. At last count, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), the world's largest foundry, was reportedly down to about 40% in terms of overall fab utilization rates, according to sources in the industry. Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), the second largest foundry, is reportedly running at about 35%, sources said. And Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., the third largest provider, is down to 30%, after deciding to close one of its fabs for a week or two, said sources in the region. One of the lowest fab utilization rates in the industry is reportedly hitting the Anam foundry fab of Amkor Technology Inc.. The company's Korean foundry factory is believed to be running at just 25% of its installed capacity. In April, U.S..-based Amkor said it remained committed to restructuring ownership in Anam and was exploring opportunities. M.L. Test contractors clobbered too While the silicon foundries are watching their fab utilizationrates nosedive, the independent IC-testing houses face an even worse situation. Some industry sources believe that the larger IC-testing houses based in Taiwan are running at between 30-to-40% their installed capacity, while the smaller players are down to a staggering 10%. --M.L.