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

To: willcousa who wrote (9055)	2/27/2004 12:14:39 PM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

How long will it take to put a redesign of a chip complex enough that the maker will want to convert to diagonal routing into production? Sorry that is such a cumbersome sentence but I know you will see what I am trying to ask. Probably not long at all as Cadence says they have the tools already so it is just a matter of computing power and then a set of masks. The real time sink is in qualification of the chip... you don't want to have rel problems down the road and have to recall a bunch of expensive computers... BTW, one reason I hold on to Intel and HPQ is the home entertainment market... Sony will be there too so those three should be powerhouses with integrated solutions. Dell might take over the printer market just as HP is making 10 times the sales on Home Entertainment for all I know... I don't see Dell as having the R&D horsepower to innovate products, they seem to put R&D into processes and packaging... and do a very good job there.

To: willcousa who wrote (9055)	2/27/2004 12:24:19 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Will, To build a 300mm fab takes about 12-24 months for the shell...To receive, install, facilitize and qualify all of the equipment to be ready for full production takes about another 12-18 months, depending on how many contractors and process engineering resources are available. Regarding a paradyme shift to redevelop, process qualify, and life test device structures from current layout design rules to X rules would likely be 18-24 months. This is not a simple process. Computer layout of the new routing scheme would probably be the easy part, it is integrating all of the other steps to maximize product "flow" such as totally new mask sets, new process qualification, test equipment, reliability testing, debugging and certifying the end product....a very expensive undertaking. I wouldn't expect that any current chip designs would be changed, but new chip designs could incorporate the new design rules with at least a 18-24 month integration time from inception, IMO...BB