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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (185133)	7/31/2002 9:38:22 PM
From: stomper	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Yeah, there hasn't been a "meat" call in a while. -dave

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (185133)	7/31/2002 10:16:25 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Jim Seymour IBM Opens New Fab Today -- OUCH! 7/31/02 11:51 AM ET This morning saw another bizarre step in the continuing confusion at IBM. No, I'm not talking about the acquisition of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers consulting practice for $3B+ -- bad idea, high price, mistake -- but rather, the formal opening of IBM Microelectronics' fancy new 140,000-square foot, $2.5B microprocessor foundry in East Fishkill, NY. IBM needs to be in the chip-making business like it needs to open a chain of supermarkets or get into deep-sea fishing. There is zero, zip, nada strategic value in this for IBM -- indeed, it's a substantial distraction to IBM's strategic positioning -- and is a lousy use of IBM's hardly-limitless resources. IBM's much-ballyhooed June restructing plan for its Technology Group, on whose turf this fab falls, seemed a clear sign that IBM was moving in other directions. Especially because a fab like this has to run at full-bore, flat-out maximum capacity to make any economic sense, this is the wrong plant, at the wrong moment for IBM. IBM says it'll make it pay by serving as a fab for others. But with "fab-less" microprocessor shops teetering on the edge everywhere, it's hard to imagine where they'll find the customers to keep this high-tech white elephant running. Sell it, Sam. Fast. Even at a big loss. Right now it's high-tech -- 300mm wafers, 130nm lines and the ability to move quickly to 90nm processes -- but fabs like this age fast, and it won't be salable for long. On the other hand, who'd buy a multi-billion-dollar cutting-edge domestic fab right now?