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

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (11741)	10/15/2004 10:17:40 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Taiwan's chip and PC index climbs in September By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies 10/15/2004, 2:41 PM ET SAN JOSE, Calif. — After experiencing a dismal August, Taiwan's PC and semiconductor industry in total posted sales that were above historical patterns for September, according to Pacific Crest Securities Inc. As a result, the Silicon Island Index (SII) for Taiwan was up 9.2 percent in September over August and up 19 percent from the like period a year ago, according to Pacific Crest (Portland, Ore.), an investment banking firm. The SII is based on a composite of 30 public Taiwanese companies, including PC makers, chip-set houses, silicon foundries and chip-packaging providers. The foundries on the SII list include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (TSMC). Given that Taiwan is the "lynchpin" in the global PC supply chain, the index is supposed to indicate the overall health of the industry, according to Pacific Crest. The island is the world's largest supplier of PC motherboards, peripherals, chip sets, and other products, according to Pacific Crest. The most recent SII figures are positive amid the IC lull in the market. "September results reflect a back-end loaded Q3," said Michael McConnell, an analyst for Pacific Crest, in the report. Foundry revenue in Taiwan, however, jumped only 0.3 percent month-over-month in September, which was below the average increase of 1.4 percent over the last six years. The current IC slowdown is causing "declining fab ultizations and declines in revenue and wafer average selling prices at UMC and TSMC," McConnell said. Chip-packaging and test sales in Taiwan were up 1.4 percent in September, compared with in an average increase of 7.1 percent over the last six years. "Excess capacity at Taiwan's test and packaging houses, coupled with bloated customer inventories, contributed to the poor results," he said. Chipset sales in Taiwan rose 2.1 percent over the previous month amid strong momentum in the channels. Graphic card unit sales at add-in board manufacturers rose 14 percent in September. First-tier motherboard unit shipments grew 19.7 percent in sequentially in September. PC builder sales in Taiwan rose 14.8 percent.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (11741)	10/16/2004 1:50:45 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Cary I think some of your comments are correct about LRCX not able growing additional leg but neither photo nor etch is a niche market as they define critical dimensions - ASML is "just" photo and LRCX is "just" etch. I don't think anybody considers ASML to be a niche player. Hill is a smart guy but over the last couple years he seems to get "sloppy"; I own both but I'm starting to run out of patience; NVLS has CVD, PVD, strip and clean ; than they added CMP and ALD but the topline is dissapointing considering they are diversified I think I'm not the only one who thinks along those lines: finance.yahoo.com