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

To: StanX Long who wrote (63569)	5/9/2002 3:59:47 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Taiwan Semiconductor Sales Surge 45% on Pricier Chips (Update2) By Alan Patterson 05/09 03:28 quote.bloomberg.com Hsinchu, Taiwan, May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's biggest maker of chips for other companies, said April sales surged 45% as it increased production of more advanced chips that sell for higher prices. Sales rose to NT$13.4 billion ($387 million) from NT$9.2 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement. That was up from NT$12.3 billion in March. TSMC Chairman Morris Chang last month said he expects sales to rise by as much as 30 percent this year, quadruple the rate forecast for the semiconductor industry as a whole. The industry is rebounding from its worst-ever year, when a decline in demand for mobile phones, computers and other electronics clipped orders for the chips that run them. The industry began its slide in the second quarter of 2001. Taiwan's biggest company by market capitalization said 53 percent of sales in the first quarter were chips made from so- called 0.18-micron or smaller technology, which produces thinner chip circuitry for advanced electronics systems. That compares with 45 percent in the prior quarter. The company also said it began making chips at 0.13 micron, thinnest in the world, in the first three months of this year. Taiwan Semiconductor said it expects to increase its chip shipments 20 percent in the second half. Capacity use in the first quarter fell to 67 percent from 70 percent after Taiwan Semiconductor added production facilities the past year. Factory use rose from 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001. The company will raise capacity 15 percent to 381,000 silicon wafers a month by the end of this year. Taiwan Semiconductor shares rose 2.4 percent to NT$85.