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

To: Road Walker who wrote (3555)	10/11/2002 7:30:06 AM
From: Steve Lee	Respond to of 25522

"But for the first time since the bear started, the market is making noises like it wants to bottom" I agree, which is why I am flat. But I don't think it is "the" bottom. I gave up trading on fundamentals nearly a year ago and haven't looked back. The fundamentals are still interesting, so I like to follow them, and I am still a bear from that perspective, despite what my portfolio contains or doesn't contain. In fact, I think the global economies are in very deep do indeed!

To: Road Walker who wrote (3555)	10/11/2002 8:33:10 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

TSMC, UMC wafer contract-manufacturing prices slide Katherine Chiu, Hsinchu; Jane Wang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 11 October 2002] In a move to hold on to customers amid intense price competition, Taiwan’s two foundry giants have recently started lowering 0.35 to 0.5-micron processing prices for some customers by about 10-15%, according to industry sources. They added, however, that how much contract manufacturing prices will continue to drop depends on changes in the market and actual customer demand. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), facing a bleak fourth-quarter outlook in which sources say utilization rates are likely to slump at around 50-60%, are also up against prices at competitors Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Hynix Semiconductor that are practically half their own. The drag in utilization rates follows a 70% high in the second quarter, at which time UMC had even told customers it would hike 0.35 to 0.5-micron processing prices by 25-30% in the third quarter. Not only did UMC not raise prices, however, it shaved prices by 5-10%, while TSMC cut prices by 15% starting in September to meet certain customers’ demands. UMC’s prices are usually 20% lower than TSMC’s, but the price gap has now shrunk to 10%, sources say. TSMC and UMC may also be hoping that with lower prices, its IC design customers would be able to raise profits and improve competitiveness in the market, sources indicate. Spokespersons at TSMC and UMC stated that its contract terms with customers are highly confidential and declined to comment.