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

To: Jerome who wrote (53850)	10/5/2001 11:05:57 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Jerome, Cary will ignore their request for information. But I would support you as our next ambassador to afghanistan. Blossom would enjoy the terrain there, i am sure. And you can give out apples and peanuts. <ggg> mike

To: Jerome who wrote (53850)	10/5/2001 12:12:23 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

taipeitimes.com TSMC plans China plant SEMICONDUCTORS: With the company's rivals in the Middle Kingdom poaching its staff, the Taiwan-based giant has decided to move some operations across the Strait BLOOMBERG TAIPEI Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, ¥x¿n¹q) said its plans to expand into China were triggered after rivals on the mainland began poaching top talent from the biggest made-to-order chipmaker. Earlier this year, Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, ¤¤ªä°ê»Ú¶°¦¨¹q¸ô) snatched 50 TSMC engineers. The raid prompted a decision by Chairman Morris Chang (±i©¾¿Ñ) to open the company's first plant on the mainland within two years, TSMC spokesman Tzeng Jin-hao (´¿®Êµq) said. "Those engineers included some mid-level managers," said Lloyd Tsai, who counts TSMC shares among the US$2 billion in equities he helps manage for Invesco Taiwan Ltd. ``They have the experience and technical knowledge to help build the semiconductor industry in Shanghai." China, one of the world's few expanding chip markets, is expected to emerge as the world's biggest this decade. At the same time, the world semiconductor industry is shrinking more than a third to about US$117 billion this year, predicts IC Insights Inc, a market researcher. A key factor behind TSMC's success in the chip industry has been its ability to attract Chinese engineers to Taiwan after they study and work in the US, Tsai said. Now, some prefer China to Taiwan, he said. While TSMC considered its options, competitors were setting up shop on the mainland, some of them financed by Taiwan entrepreneurs. Semiconductor Manufacturing International, which produced its first chips last month, was founded by Richard Chang (±i¦¼¨Ê), formerly the chief executive of Taiwan's Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (¥@¤j¥b¾ÉÅé). TSMC acquired Worldwide Semiconductor last year. ``Some have known Richard for years,'' said Christopher Chang, a former Texas Instruments Inc engineer who is now a senior executive with the Shanghai company. "Some people want to work for Richard." TSMC, which plans to open its first sales office in China soon, may start building its first chip plant there within the next two years, according to Deputy Chief Executive Tseng Fan-cheng (´¿Ác«°). Taiwan companies have accelerated expansion on the mainland since last year, hoping to benefit from cheaper land and lower-cost labor. Companies such a as Acer Inc (§»¹q) and Quanta Computer Corp (¼s¹F¹q¸£) have started production of notebook computers for the first time in China. TSMC's entry into China has been slowed by government regulations limiting investment by critical industries and by the lack of suppliers providing specialty raw materials required to make chips. United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, Áp¹q), TSMC's chief rival, hasn't announced any plans to open its first plant in China. The Taiwan company warned last month that the rapid build-up of chip manufacturing in China could hurt the industry and cause many companies to lose money. "Each major city in China has very aggressive plans to build up fabs," Robert Tsao (±ä¿³¸Û), UMC chairman, said of new chip factories in the next five years. TSMC shares rose NT$0.20 yesterday, or 0.5 percent, to NT$44.3.

To: Jerome who wrote (53850)	10/5/2001 12:35:53 PM
From: Math Junkie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

I think you should put down Brian as a reference. Show them the picture from his profile. <g>

To: Jerome who wrote (53850)	10/5/2001 4:13:22 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 70976

Jerome, here s an interesting different perspective on the "Roots" of the "problem" we have been discussing here over the last two weeks: The Real “Root Cause” Joe Gelman 01 October 2001 There has been much discussion about the “root cause” of the attack on the United States on September 11th. Most of our “root cause” explainers have been shallow, perhaps unwitting apologist for terrorists who murdered thousands of Americans. Yes, they will usually start off by expressing their horror at the loss of civilian life, but such expressions serve as a kind of throat clearing before getting to the main point: it’s all the fault of an arrogant and misguided US Policy. So allow me to explain the real root cause, unrestrained by political correctness: We are dealing with a culture that is not forward-looking in the modern, Western tradition. It is a culture obsessed with the past, deeply immersed in “victimology” and worships the concept of martyrdom. The source of the deep resentment and hatred can be found in a long history that most of us rarely delve in to or are even aware of. For centuries, even before the Crusades, Islam was the dominant world religion, culture and economic power. However, by the 1300’s Europe had firmly emerged from what we refer to as the dark ages and experienced an explosive renaissance. With emphasis on science, technology and the arts, the West flourished. Surprisingly, the main process that would eventually render the Islamic world irrelevant for the next seven centuries was the West’s opening of trade routes to the riches of the Orient in the 1400’s, which would circumvent the Islamic middleman who, until then, controlled those trade routes, allowing the west to prosper in unprecedented fashion. Yet, while the West prospered through trade and discovery of new lands, the Islamic world lost its major markets, primary source of prosperity and power, and gradually receded into its own “dark age,” which it is only now beginning to emerge from. As strange and preposterous as it may seem to many of us in the West, who have spent our entire lives concentrating on the present and the future, what is currently happening is an attempt by Islamic culture, and particularly its more fervent followers to reassert the historic position of Islam as the dominant world culture and religion. This is not a secret revelation. The followers of Bin Laden and others proclaim this openly and proudly. Again, this might seem completely preposterous to many in the West, but to many in the Islamic world, this is a natural and inevitable process. When one tries to put oneself in the mind of a young, idealistic, intelligent and deeply religious member of Islamic culture, things look very different. When such a person looks at the West with its impressive symbols of prosperity and power, what they really see is a giant monument to their own culture’s failure in comparison. When faced with such a reality one is left with only two alternatives, acknowledge the superiority of Western Civilization and join it on one level or another, or reject and seek to destroy it. The bombers of September 11th chose the latter, but there are millions of them. Far more than acknowledged by our own leaders or even by the spokesmen for Islamic organizations. This is the essence of the problem. Those who don’t fully understand the history and mindset will have difficulty comprehending this truth and will look to more conventional explanations that fail to grasp the larger picture. Many of our “root cause” explainers point to perceived modern grievances to explain Islamic resentment of the West. Perhaps it is the offensive US military presence in the Gulf region or Indian “occupation” of Muslim Kashmir or Israeli “oppression” of Palestinians or Russian destruction of Chechnya. Pointing to these and other examples misses the much larger point. Taking the Arab-Israeli conflict as an example: The Islamic world does not hate the West because of it’s support for Israel, it hates Israel because it is a small symbol of Western dominance and success over Islam. Do away with Israel tomorrow and the fundamental problem remains from their perspective. That is why Bin Laden and his followers see the US as their primary target. The US is Western Civilization. The US is the Great Satan. Time is not on the West’s side. Islamic radicalism is a rapidly growing phenomenon and has already shown that it is willing to go to any length to bring down the West and its institutions. They clearly have the WILL. It is only a matter of time until they gain the MEANS to inflict far greater damage in the form of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. At that point, the existence of Western Civilization is at risk. Better to confront the problem now than face a far more dangerous foe down the road. ------------- Joe Gelman is a Writer and Business Consultant living in Las Vegas.