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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (52968)	9/24/2001 8:21:38 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

TSMC provides a bright spot in electronics gloom By Mure Dickie in Taipei Published: September 21 2001 20:56 \| Last Updated: September 21 2001 21:11 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's leading "foundry" producer of made-to-order computer chips, on Friday provided a rare chink of light in the gloom enveloping the global electronics industry by predicting higher profits than expected in the current quarter. TSMC, which is closely watched as a market indicator because of its exposure to a wide range of electronics industry customers, said it was more optimistic than it had been in late July when it forecast that third-quarter operating income would at least match second-quarter levels. It said it now expected operating income in the current quarter to be at least five times the meagre T$284m ($8.2m) achieved in the previous three months. TSMC said its recovery continued despite the fall-out from last week's terrorist attacks on the US, which sent its own share price tumbling and fuelled fears in Taiwan of a likely steep fall in US demand for electronics in the highly important fourth quarter. It is unclear if TSMC's good cheer reflects a nascent revival in overall demand for information technology products or is more a function of its role as a semiconductor foundry, a business model that many analysts say should be relatively resilient in bad times. TSMC, which has sought to protect margins by making the greatest possible use of its most advanced production facilities, said orders for delivery in September to the end of the year showed a "high concentration of high-end and more profitable products".