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

To: etchmeister who wrote (16819)	12/12/2005 11:48:04 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Amid a strong NAND flash forecast, Toshiba may seek additional packaging partners (I believe the upwards revision for capex were made some time ago) Printer friendly Related stories Comments Email to a friend Latest news Amy Lee, Taipei; Esther Lam, DigiTimes.com [Monday 12 December 2005] Toshiba plans to significantly boost its NAND flash output in 2006, which should benefit the company’s Taiwan-based testing and packaging partner, Powertech Technology Inc (PTI). However, according to industry sources, Toshiba plans to seek additional testing and packaging partners, on cost concerns, with King Yuan Electronics Company (KYEC) and Singapore-based United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC) being the potential beneficiaries. Toshiba announced that it would budget a capital expenditure (capex) of 225 billion yen for 2006, up 49% from its initially planned 151 billion yen. The chipmaker will boost its NAND flash monthly capacity by over 60% from 30,000 12-inch wafers to 48,750 by the end of 2006. PTI is currently the sole memory testing and packaging house for Toshiba in Taiwan, and the company stated that despite aggressively ramping its capacity to meet the potential demand increase from Toshiba, it is still finding its capacity running short. PTI stated that it is considering to outsource some of its testing and packaging to keep pace with the strong Toshiba orders. PTI has benefited from its relationship with Toshiba, with a Chinese-language Commercial Times report quoting Morgan Stanley analyst Frank Wang as saying that PTI has led the memory testing and packaging sector with gross margins of 35%. However, the paper also said that Toshiba is likely to outsource orders to other industry players in order to lower its testing and packaging costs. KYEC and UTAC would be the two potential beneficiaries, Wang noted. PTI admitted that Toshiba has sought additional packaging and testing houses and requested a price adjustment in late 2004 and the first half of 2005, as NAND flash priced dropped dramatically. PTI stated it did lower its prices.

To: etchmeister who wrote (16819)	12/12/2005 12:57:41 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

The Case For A Strong U.S. Chip Recovery Ed Lin, 12.12.05, 12:05 PM ET Caris & Co. analyst Rick Whittington said that according to a study from Pathfinder Reseach, showed that worldwide chip revenue rose nearly 11% in the third quarter from the second quarter. "This reflects strong new product cycles in computing, wireless, consumer and industrial/aerospace," Whittington said in a research report. "Communications markets continue to lag, impacting traditional segment suppliers Altera (nasdaq: ALTR - news - people ) and Xilinx (nasdaq: XLNX - news - people ), both of which report strength elsewhere, including autos but also industrial and defense." U.S. companies grew just under 6% sequentially but up a whopping 12% year-over-year, with an 18% net profit margin, the analyst said. Advanced Micro Devices (nyse: AMD - news - people ) led with a 23% gain year-over-year, Micron Technology (nyse: MU - news - people ) was second with a 19% gain, and Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) was "highly respectable" with an 18% gain. "Intel's 20% net margin was swamped by Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people )'s 34%," Whittington said. "Globally diversified investors seeking the world's leading companies need look no further. IP-driven product portfolios increasingly provide the impetus for a strong U.S. chip recovery."