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

To: Jong Hyun Yoo who wrote (9381)	4/8/2004 8:11:49 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

UPDATE - Taiwan TSMC's sales soar, outlook strong Thursday April 8, 4:33 am ET By Kirby Chien (Adds fund manager quotes, background) TAIPEI, April 8 (Reuters) - Sales of TSMC (Taiwan:2330.TW - News), the world's largest contract maker of microchips, jumped to near a record high in March with rising demand and prices boding well for the second quarter, the Taiwan company said on Thursday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (NYSE:TSM - News) posted T$19.97 billion ($607 million) in revenue last month, up 44 percent from the same month last year, after orders for chips for cellphones and digital cameras swamped its production lines. The results were just off an all-time high of T$20.3 billion in October and unusually strong for the first quarter, when consumer demand typically slackens after the Christmas boom. "It is expected that TSMC would generate even better revenues for the second quarter of 2004 due to an increased demand and a firmer pricing environment," said Lora Ho, chief financial officer, in a statement. TSMC's smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) (Taiwan:2303.TW - News; NYSE:UMC - News), the world's second-biggest manufacturer of semiconductors, also reported strong March sales. UMC said on Wednesday sales surged 27.6 percent from a year earlier to T$9.0 billion, pushing first-quarter revenue up 6.8 percent from the last three months of 2003. TSMC's first-quarter sales totalled T$57.5 billion, falling just short of the fourth quarter's record T$57.78 billion. "The results are good," said Grace Yao, who manages a $68 million tech fund for JF Asset Management in Taipei. She said industry sources indicate both TSMC and UMC would continue to utilise 100 percent of capacity in the second quarter. RISING PRICES Recent data out of the United States, where TSMC sells some 75 percent of its goods, indicate a faster pace of economic growth and underpin rising expectations for the second quarter. On Wednesday, Dell Inc. (NasdaqNM:DELL - News), the world's second-biggest personal computer maker, raised its outlook on revenue for the quarter on strong demand in overseas markets, including China. JF's Yao said TSMC would probably set a new record for sales in the second half of the year, the industry's peak period. "There's strong demand across the board," she said. TSMC, which is one-fifth-owned by the Netherlands' Philips Electronics NV (Amsterdam:PHG.AS - News), announced the figures after the close of trade on Thursday. The stock fell 0.81 percent, against a 0.39 percent rise in the broad TAIEX share index (Taiwan:^TWII - News). Investors have priced in surging revenues for TSMC, whose share price had almost doubled in 2003 to a high of T$72 in September. The shares have since lagged UMC, which caught up with its larger rival in integrating the most advanced production technology that analysts say cuts costs and boosts profit margins. UMC shares rose another 1.27 percent to T$32.0 on Thursday on its strong March sales. TSMC shares have risen less than eight percent since hitting a low in early August last year, far short of the 27.5 percent gain on the TAIEX and UMC's 42 percent rise over the same period. Both chipmakers have said they would run at 100 percent capacity in the first quarter and are racing to ramp up production to meet rising demand. TSMC has nearly doubled its 2004 capital expenditure budget to $2 billion while UMC and its subsidiaries hiked spending to $2.12 billion, from $739 million last year. TSMC's cutting edge production techniques are attracting a wide range of high-volume, high-profit-margin customers. The company said this week it will make chips for future Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox game consoles. (US$1 = T$32.9)