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

To: Big Bucks who wrote (15976)	9/15/2005 1:57:51 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Samsung reportedly seeks to cut LCD investment Spencer Chin EE Times (09/15/2005 12:58 PM EDT) MANHASSET, N.Y. — Faced with lagging profits the first half of the year, South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. may slash its hefty investments in liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing if the trend continues, according to a Korea Herald report. According to the report, Samsung has earned an operating profit of $35.1 million (36 billion won) the first half this year, down 97.8 percent compared to last year. Last year, Samsung’s LCD division earned an operating profit of $1.9 billion (2 trillion won). "We did not fare well in the first and second quarters this year, and should the LCD sector continue to lose profitability, we may consider making adjustments to the investment figures," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report. However, Samsung, the second largest global LCD supplier behind LG.Philips LCD, will keep its existing LCD investment plan for the time being, he said. The report said Samsung allocated $2.8 billion (2.86 trillion won) to invest in its LCD division early this year, and has spent $60 million (62 billion won) of it in the first half. Earlier this month, Samsung said it would invest an additional $1.7 billion to expand output at its seventh-generation LCD plant in Tangjeong, South Chungchong Province. The company expects the expanded plant to produce 150,000 LCD panels a month, to meet the needs of the growing market for 40-inch LCD TVs. "We have a brighter outlook for the third and fourth quarters as the price cuts are expected to make it more affordable to a broader range of consumers," the spokesperson was quoted as saying. The spokesman reportedly also said the stronger won and increased oil and raw material prices have negatively affected the LCD sector's performance this year. The Korea Times report also quoted Samsung executive Yun Jong-yong echoing concerns about the group's LCD division in a recent interview with British daily Financial Times, fueling speculation the company may reduce its investment in the sector. Samsung's predicament illustrates the vulnerability of LCD suppliers to fast-changing market forces and the consequences of gambles they have taken in an ultracompetitive business. Jun Sook, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics Co., said in a conference earlier this year that LCD suppliers needed to engage in hefty capital spending to maintain pace with rivals and hold onto market share. Industry analysts such as DisplaySearch Inc. have previously noted that profitability for LCD suppliers has been elusive this year, and are projecting an oversupply in LCDs next year—a scenario that in the past has led to cuts in panel prices and production.

To: Big Bucks who wrote (15976)	9/15/2005 4:49:50 PM
From: CrazyPete	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Since there is no seek time for flash, there can't be a fragmentation issue in the same sense as for rotating media. There's a wear leveling issue, in that infrequently-changed data will cause wear to be unevenly distributed. But I think that's just a matter of having software in the flash device periodically move unchanged data around. It should not require host intervention.

To: Big Bucks who wrote (15976)	9/15/2005 11:54:10 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

(we are all going to throw away these cards before they fail after 100K reads/writes. In fact we all will die, before they fail!) You might want to check in with SNDK board - (what's really remarkable is that NAND flash litterally exploded - both Intel and AMD are NOR players but NOR seems to be restricted to cell phones). I like the SNDK board a lot - AMD and INTC too polarized (they either have blue or green tinted sun glasses); did a little more reading on AMD vs Intel (remember IDT and NSM going into CPU business? Cyrix? And NexGen IPO - it appears that AMD picked some of the technology up from NextGen); we shall see how AMD's 65nm ramp goes and how Charter works out - last time they tried to work with UMC and it did not take off at all To: etchmeister who wrote (28583) 7/26/2005 6:40:21 AM From: Pam Read Replies (1) of 29021 Hi Etchmeister, The first article is referring to 8Gbit MCP part. Basically, it is 2x4Gbit chips fused together and is available from both Toshiba and Samsung. The second article is referring to a monolithic 8Gbit part which no one currently has but Toshiba is going through an internal qualification and will be in production before this quarter is over. Once this part is available, you will see 16Gb MCP (2x8Gbit) part available also. DT have often written misleading articles referencing these chips and it has been going on for a long time. For now, Samsung has been a process leader and Toshiba has been density leader at a more mature process. What I mean by that is- Samsung is the first to produce production quality 70nm parts (this is the 4Gbit monolithic chip introduced early this year) where as Toshiba has been manufacturing 4Gbit monolithic parts at 90nm since 3Q of 2004. Of course, Samsung's chip is faster and more durable as it is SLC but Toshiba's part is much cheaper and fast enough for most applications and durable enough for its useful life (we are all going to throw away these cards before they fail after 100K reads/writes. In fact we all will die, before they fail!) and it is MLC. Hope this helps and clears some confusion. -Pam