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

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (9995)	5/24/2004 3:24:06 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Limited fab gear threatens foundries By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies 05/24/2004, 2:35 PM ET NEW YORK--Limited availability and shortages of select semiconductor equipment threatens to temper the near-term supply growth for major silicon foundry vendors, according to a new report from SG Cowen Securities Corp. on Monday (May 24). Based on recent discussions with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), SG Cowen said that it is bullish on the near-term outlook for foundries and believes that order visibility is in the 6-to-12 month range. On the other hand, the foundries may have a tough time expanding their fab capacities. "Capital equipment constraints limit supply growth," according to the report from the New York-based investment banking firm. "Despite aggressive capex plans for '04, the foundries indicated that limited availability of semi cap equipment would likely temper near-term supply growth." One of the bottlenecks is lithography. For months, there has been a shortage of select fab gear, especially leading-edge, 193-nm scanners from various vendors, according to analysts. Some analysts claim that ASML Holding NV has been sold out of lithography gear until the third quarter of 2004, but the Dutch-based equipment giant differs with that assessment. ASML's general lead times for lithography gear have been about 9 months on the average, according to a spokeswoman for ASML. "ASML has never said it has been sold out," according to the spokeswoman. "As of the end of April, we were saying that people could get an order in and that they could get a machine by the end of the year." During a conference call last week, Joseph Bronson, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Applied Materials Inc., said lead times and pricing were stable for the company in the most recent quarter. Bronson made the comments in a conference call to discuss the company's second fiscal quarter last week. In the automatic test equipment (ATE) front, lead times for testers at Teradyne Inc. range from 10-to-13 weeks, said Jeff Schneider, marketing manager for the Boston-based company. "Lead times are flat, while orders have doubled," he said.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (9995)	5/25/2004 7:19:53 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

TSMC seeks capacity from competing foundries Samson Yu, Taipei; Jack Lu, DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 25 May 2004] In addition to seeking capacity from other foundries in Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is negotiating capacity support from foundries in Southeast Asia in order to meet demand for mature processes, according to sources. With its capacity running flat out, TSMC’s capacity may fall short of demand by 500,000 wafers this year, sources at IC design houses estimated. Among all applications, LCD driver ICs has the most urgent need for capacity, the sources noted. Taiwan-based Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) is already supporting TSMC for 25,000 wafers per month. However, TSMC still needs more. To resolve the situation, TSMC hopes to outsource chip production to other foundries that offer TSMC-like processes. In addition, TSMC plans to assist these foundries in modifying their processes to meet customer requirements and it hopes to receive competitive pricing in return, foundry sources said. However, sources said the negotiation might not be progressing well as the competing foundries are already enjoying robust orders and are becoming less flexible in pricing.