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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (13157)	1/28/2004 11:52:18 PM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95865

TSMC, Episil expect 10-15% ASP growth in 1Q Samson Yu, Taipei; Wen-Yu Lang, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 28 January 2004] Taiwan-based foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Episil Technologies expect to enjoy 10-15% average selling price (ASP) growth this quarter, thanks to high utilization rates and an increasing portion of relatively high-ASP products, sources said. Having been running close to full utilization, TSMC and Episil have prioritized production for power management and converter ICs over other products and have raised prices to some clients by about 10%. Production of these ICs require high-voltage processes and usually bring foundries higher ASPs and gross margins, sources said. Benefiting from rising outsourcing from IDMs, TSMC has reached full utilization rates with 5V or above CMOS processes at its Fabs 2 and 7, sources said. Episil has also been running close to full utilization with its high-voltage processes, including BiCMOS and bipolar processes, since last quarter, sources said. According to sources at the foundries, tight supply for analog ICs, starting in the third quarter of last year, is expected to last through next quarter due to strong demand for handsets and consumer electronics products. Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and Antek Semiconductor have also seen their utilization rates surpass 90%. The two foundries, however, do not plan to raise prices, sources said.