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To: DJBEINO who wrote (9403)	7/18/2001 1:53:15 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

Korea Hynix to halt U.S. chip plant for 6 months SEOUL, July 18 (Reuters) - Hynix Semiconductor 00660.KS, the world's third largest computer memory chipmaker, announced on Wednesday it would halt output at its U.S. chip plant for six months to counter oversupply and collapsing chip prices. "Facing the worst year ever for the global semiconductor industry, Hynix Semiconductor Inc today announced plans to temporarily suspend production at its facility at Eugene, Oregon, for the next six months effective immediately," the company said in a statement, adding no further cuts were planned. Hynix shares rose as much as 10.1 percent in opening trade on the news, strongly outperforming the benchmark KOSPI <.KS11>. They had hit a record closing low of 1,685 won ($1.29) on Monday, prior to a market holiday on Tuesday. Hynix had hinted for weeks that it might take some action, a step analysts said other makers would need to follow to address a severe drop in memory chip prices. Spot prices on 64-megabit chips have fallen below $1 after trading around $9 a year ago. "While we alone cannot dramatically alter the supply situation in the market, this is a significant reduction for Hynix," the company said. Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America (HSMA) produces 16 percent of Hynix's dynamic random access memory DRAM wafer output and over 50 percent of its 64 Mb DRAM chips. Research firm Gartner Dataquest has said the memory chip sector is facing its worst year ever, forecasting global DRAM chip sales to fall 55.5 percent to $14 billion in 2001 from $31.5 billion last year. TEMPORARY CUTS Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba 6502.TK and Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp 2303.TW UMC have recently announced temporary output cuts. But other major DRAM chip producers, including world leader Samsung Electronics 05930.KS and No. 2 Micron Technology MU, have said they have no immediate plans to cut output. Manufacturers are wary of losing market share by cutting back production, and also of missing the boat if the market bounces back given the long lead time required to restart lines. Hynix said about 600 employees at HSMA would be temporarily laid off for six months but it would maintain staff involved in upgrading the facility during the shutdown. "No further cuts are planned, however all operations are continuously under review to ensure that maximum efficiency is obtained at all Hynix facilities," the statement said. The company will invest about $150 million to upgrade the facility by replacing 0.22 micron processing technology with 0.16 micron technology for 64-megabit chip production.

To: DJBEINO who wrote (9403)	7/19/2001 3:14:51 AM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9582

UMC (2303)closed @34.50 -1.90 vol 55,541,213 2nd most active +++++++++ July 18 net purchase 1,967,000 shares +++++++ TAIWAN WEIGHTED closed @ 4190.78 -29.11 (-0.69%) Day's Range :4065.64 - 4238.34 +++++++++++ UMC will withdraw from Trecenti Technologies, its joint venture with Hitachi Japan, according to the “Economic Daily.” So far, UMC (2303 TT) has shifted some of Xilinx's orders to Trecenti, but Hitachi has been somewhat reluctant to transfer its orders, and thus, UMC feels that it would be better to switch Xilinx's orders back to Taiwan. Rumor also has it that UMC has to recognize an NT$2bn loss from Trecenti Technologies.