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

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (6370)	7/3/2003 8:08:33 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Altis Semiconductor Salutes Applied Materials with Supplier of the Year Award Thursday July 3, 7:30 am ET Applied Materials Helped Reduce Production Costs for Copper SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 3, 2003--Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT - News) today announced it received the coveted Supplier of the Year award from Altis Semiconductor, a joint venture between IBM Microelectronics Division and Infineon Technologies located in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, for outstanding quality products and services that resulted in productivity and cost benefits. The award was presented to Applied Materials during Altis Semiconductor's Annual Supplier Day event held in Paris, France on June 16, 2003. "Applied Materials' dedication and commitment to quality and cost-efficiencies distinguished it from the field of suppliers we work with," said Elke Eckstein, chief executive officer of Altis Semiconductor. "Specifically, Applied Materials' global service and support group exemplified supplier excellence and helped Altis Semiconductor achieve aggressive cost reductions and production goals for our advanced copper manufacturing lines." The Altis Semiconductor Supplier of the Year award recognizes the company that rates highest in quality, technology, service and support logistics, cost and communications. Applied Materials ranked first on all these measures based on the performance of its systems for some of the industry's most demanding applications, and the efforts of its global service network. Applied Materials was able to improve equipment productivity and reduce costs for Altis Semiconductor through flexible service solutions that include the maintenance and spare parts management of Applied Materials' systems. "We are honored to have been chosen over other major suppliers for this award, and thank Altis Semiconductor for its support and positive feedback," said Franz Janker, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for Applied Materials. "We believe our ability to provide a broad range of industry-leading products and services was critical to our success at Altis. This award demonstrates the solid benefits of collaboratively working with customers to understand and match our support to their competitive requirements." Altis Semiconductor was created in July 1999. Its leading-edge technology offerings include advanced logic components down to 0.13 micron with copper interconnects, eDRAM, mixed-signal and eFlash components. With an investment portfolio of 1 billion Euros since 1999, Altis is delivering key devices for IBM and Infineon customers, as well as industry leaders in the PC, telecom and consumer business market segments. For more information see altissemiconductor.com. Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT - News), 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 appliedmaterials.com.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (6370)	7/3/2003 10:20:04 AM
From: runes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

<<An upcycle will not appear "out of the blue." It will be based on the efforts of many technology companies and shortages are not likely to be a major factor.>> Oh, is that what happened in '85, '95, '98 - '00? BTW - the drying up of natural gas supplies was an issue in the '00 - '01 California energy crises. So here we are 2 1/2 years later and Nat Gas prices are soaring because there hasn't been enough new development to address said shortage. The idea of free markets being the most efficient economic mechanism is a noble but flawed concept. The problem is that there are time lags which, as any good engineer knows, can destabilize even the best control systems. In the case of the semis ( and nat gas) there is a sizeable investment needed to bring the new supply on-line. Now one could be considerate of the customer and raise capital (sell shares) in the troughs in order to ensure that new capacity is in place when needed. ...Or one can wait until shortages drive the profitability through the roof along with the stock price making it easier to raise the capital and delighting the investors. ...Care to guess which method was preferred in four of the last four upturns? But you are right to take the article to task for the "anticipated demand". A nice phrase that has such ramifications but no justification or quantification.