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

To: etchmeister who wrote (12182)	11/23/2004 8:05:48 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

etch, Don't want to go there I think;-) When AMAT launched their commercials, there was hue and cry from many here that it was money not well spent.....not sure if you were here for that. Brian

To: etchmeister who wrote (12182)	11/23/2004 3:44:08 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

AMD: Chip Sales Rebound After U.S. Election Tuesday November 23, 3:13 pm ET By Daniel Sorid SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Computer chip sales have recovered from a "hiccup" caused by anxiety surrounding the Nov. 2 U.S. presidential election, an Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - News) executive said on Tuesday. "We've seen a very quick recovery now that we're past the elections," Marty Seyer, general manager of AMD's microprocessor business unit, said in an interview. "The elections did cause a little hiccup for about a week." Seyer's comments come a week ahead of a closely watched fourth-quarter financial update from Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - News), the world's largest chip maker and perennial rival to AMD. In October, AMD forecast that fourth-quarter sales would grow more than 10 percent from the third quarter. The $200 billion chip industry, which has been hurt by overproduction and a $1 billion glut of unsold products, is bracing for sharply slower sales growth next year. While chip sales are expected to be strong for the final three months of this year, anxiety ahead of the U.S. election hurt business at some retailers. Nevertheless, Seyer said that for AMD, the winter holiday shopping season, which is critically important for computer sales, was following the company's established growth rates for fourth quarter, despite some fears by analysts of a second-half slowdown. "By comparison -- Q3 versus Q4 -- we're seeing normal seasonality. We're not seeing anything negative from that perspective," Seyer said. Advanced Micro Devices shares rose 40 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $21.36 on the New York Stock Exchange at mid-afternoon. Intel, meanwhile, dipped 81 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $23.29 on Nasdaq, after an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston cut his investment rating on the stock. MOBILE CHIP Also on Tuesday, AMD introduced a higher-performance version of its low-end mobile Sempron chip for notebook computers. The Sempron brand, which was introduced in July, competes with Intel's Celeron brand of processors. The brands are marketed as lower-cost alternatives to Intel's Pentium 4 and AMD's Athlon 64. AMD has been chipping away at Intel's commanding lead in the market for microprocessors this year, as the company tries to reposition itself as an innovator and marketing leader instead of a maker of less-expensive Intel clones. Seyer said AMD was unlikely to follow Intel's bundling strategy for notebook computer chips. Intel offers a microprocessor, a wireless chip and a supporting chip set under its Centrino brand, and gives incentives to PC makers who use all three chips. He said personal computer makers, called "original equipment manufacturers" or OEMs in industry lingo, are troubled by Intel's Centrino brand, which they view as stealing some of the attention from their computer brands. "There's concern by the OEMs that Centrino is becoming the master brand and ahead of the OEM's brand," Seyer said. STEALING SHARE FROM INTEL Intel's stock is expected to underperform its competitors in part because of increased competition from AMD, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Michael Masdea wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. AMD, which is building a second chip factory in Dresden, Germany that is scheduled to open in 2006, will have the capacity to supply 38 percent of the microprocessor industry's total capacity after the plant opens, Masdea wrote. "AMD is executing better and also ramping capacity with the intent to take market share," Masdea wrote. Neither AMD nor Intel, however, are best positioned for long-term growth in the chip industry, as personal computers play a less important role in overall sales, Masdea wrote. "We believe growth is no longer being driven by PCs, but instead by communications, digital consumer and penetration of emerging semiconductor end markets" such as medical and automotive," he said. "We believe companies such as (Intel) are more poorly positioned relative to companies such as Texas Instruments." TI (NYSE:TXN - News) is the world's biggest maker of cellular phones.