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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BWAC who wrote (3161)	9/22/2002 9:33:57 PM
From: robert b furman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Right! You know it has to be the dream of all bottom fishers for a pop up that has legs and traps the shorts. I thought Fridays rise at the close was subtle but impressive.The tug of war between long and shorts seemed to be on the long side as the whole days trading is concerned. I bought some Cohu at an 01 trough price - because I liked how the volume built steady all day.Certainly triple witching didn't impact Cohu.Open interest on options,although they exist are miniscule and almost impossible to trade. Many stocks are oversold and a bounce is due.I generally don't expect big bounces during confessional season. Although almost always too optimistic - I think the doom and gloom of the VIX 150 guru's makes about the same overzealous sense that the Dow 18000 guru's made. This market still works on buy low sell high.Crash days come off long and large runs.These days are much more like buy low days and therefore more like small minor to medium dips after false starts whittle away at longs confidence for anything to happen. The last phase of a BEAR is to stretch out expectations of a reversal to the next century or never at all.This quadruple bottom has been tenacious - mostly because profits haven't grown. It must be acknowledged that much semiconductor equipment is getting long in its tooth lifetime.These puppies run 24/7 and get depreciated in 3 years.It has been 2 from the top of installations.Sooner or later technology buys will get supplemented with replacement buys. If this is a maturing business then its growing size and demand for higher chip counts regardless of chip price has to generate some higher level of business. G displays this very well with his AMAT backlogs relative to past cycles. I'm really beginning to think the turn will be without the obvious washout bottom.Newbie shorts won't hear the gong at the bottom - it will be designed to work out that way. JMHO Bob Now if I can just figure out when that is.<VBG> In between - the longer this bad boy takes - the more stock I'm accumulating at what has proven to be trough pricing or so close it doesn't matter. I've been living very conservative and paying cash for accumulated stocks.The longer this bad boy stretches out the more I'll have when the turn comes. That is a good thing. Bob

To: BWAC who wrote (3161)	9/23/2002 8:18:55 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Applied Materials' Quantum II System Boosts Implant Productivity for Soitec's SOI Manufacturing Enhancements in Quantum(TM) II Ion Implanter Enable Speedier Cycle Time for Smart Cut(R) Process Monday September 23, 7:30 am ET SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2002-- Applied Materials, Inc. announced that Soitec has achieved a significant reduction in cycle time for its 300mm Smart Cut® SOI (silicon-on-insulator) process as a result of key enhancements made by Applied Materials in its Quantum(TM) II ion implant system. By increasing the system's hydrogen beam currents across a wide range of energies, Applied Materials was able to boost system productivity by 50 percent. Emmanuel Arene, director of operations at Soitec, said, "We have used Applied Materials' ion implant technology for years in our 200mm Smart Cut process and we rely on the company to support our leading-edge SOI technology. The Quantum II systems, which were installed in our new 300mm Bernin 2 production line, allow us to reach a throughput of 17 wafers per hour on 300mm thin SOI wafers, despite the larger implanted area and smaller batch size. This is especially significant for 300mm manufacturing of SOI substrates to be used for fully depleted SOI transistor structures. We continue to work with Applied Materials on system improvements and expect further breakthroughs in productivity and quality to meet long term market expectations." SOI technology is used to create an insulating film layer under a thin layer of very pure silicon. This technique has been shown to increase performance in many chip designs by up to 25 percent compared to devices made with traditional bulk silicon. The Quantum II system addresses the industry's requirement for thinner silicon layers in SOI wafers, which demand lower energy implants. Normally, reducing ion implant energy levels means a loss of system throughput; however, the innovative extraction and ion beam technology used in the Quantum II actually allows higher throughput than was possible in earlier generations of the system at higher energies. With this higher throughput, Soitec can process more wafers with fewer systems, improving factory output and productivity. Source lifetime on the Quantum II system is greater than 1,000 hours, leading to excellent process and uptime performance. "Soitec has been one of our most valued customers for many years, and we are pleased to see increased demand for their SOI technology worldwide," said Craig Lowrie, vice president and general manager of Applied Materials' Ion Implant Division. "We have worked hard to meet the increasingly tight implant process requirements imposed by Soitec's rapid advances in SOI fabrication technology. Our latest generation Quantum II system demonstrates our ability to simultaneously improve both process performance and productivity." Applied Materials' Quantum systems feature a small-footprint platform that bridges 200mm and 300mm wafer sizes. The Quantum-series ion implanters cover the entire "conductive" implant spectrum used in transistor fabrication, as well as the specialized hydrogen implant technology used by Soitec in its SOI manufacturing process. Soitec is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. Soitec uses its exclusive Smart Cut process, based on hydrogen ion implantation, to transfer a thin layer of material on the top of a support wafer. Soitec is traded on the French "Nouveau Marche" at the Paris Stock Exchange under the SICOVAM number 7206. Soitec's web site is www.soitec.com. Applied Materials, the largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry, is one of the world's leading information infrastructure providers. Applied Materials enables Information for Everyone(TM) by helping semiconductor manufacturers produce more powerful, portable and affordable chips. Applied Materials' web site is www.appliedmaterials.com.