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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (3232)	9/24/2002 8:40:51 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Micron hurt by large SDRAM inventory write-down EBN (09/24/02 05:25 p.m. EST) Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, Ida., today announced operating losses for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended August 29 of $468 million and $1.0 billion, respectively, on net sales of $748 million and $2.6 billion, respectively. Operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 include a write-down of $174 million to record inventories of semiconductor products at their estimated market values. The company's after-tax net loss for the fourth quarter was $587 million, or 97 cents per diluted share, and for fiscal year 2002 was $907 million, or $1.51 per diluted share. For fiscal year 2001, the company had a net loss from continuing operations of $521 million, or 88 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $3.9 billion. Average selling prices for the company's semiconductor products decreased approximately 30% in the fourth quarter compared to the immediately preceding quarter ended May 30, 2002. The decrease in average selling prices was substantially offset by an approximate 40% increase in the company's megabit shipments during the fourth quarter resulting in only slightly lower net sales for the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. In the fourth quarter the company completed its transition from the 256 Mbit Sync DRAM to the 256 Meg DDR DRAM as its primary product. Finished goods inventory levels of DDR products are minimal as demand for DDR memory remains strong, Micron said. The company's recent efficiency measures reduced fourth quarter per megabit manufacturing costs by approximately 10% as compared to the immediately preceding quarter, it said. Near term cost reductions are expected to result from utilization of 0.13- and 0.11-micron manufacturing capacity. Megabit production in the fourth quarter was approximately 20% higher than the immediately preceding quarter. In addition to next generation memory development efforts, research and development expense includes costs incurred in design and development of devices for data networking applications and CMOS imagers. Due to historically low average selling prices, estimated market values of certain of the company's products, in particular synchronous DRAM products, held in finished goods and work in process inventories are currently below their costs, requiring an inventory write-down to estimated market values. Excluding the effects on gross margin of the fourth quarter write-down and of previous write-downs on products sold in the fourth quarter, gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 would have been higher by approximately $130 million.