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

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (17284)	1/19/2006 11:58:22 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Cary, that's about what happened with the Dell I had till 18 months ago >Monitor failed after 1 year, disk crashed after 3.< all covered by extended warranty [because it was a $2k+ machine when new]. Now I'm just looking.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (17284)	1/19/2006 5:56:44 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Antitrust lawsuit targets Applied Materials George Leopold EE Times (01/19/2006 4:31 PM EST) WASHINGTON — Five U.S. companies that refurbish chip-manufacturing equipment have sued industry leader Applied Materials Inc. alleging it engaged in anticompetitive practices when limited the availabilty of replacement parts for chip gear. The companies alleged that Applied Materials (Santa Clara, Calif.) moved last January to limit the availability of replacement parts needed to refurbish chip-manufacturing equipment. A law firm representing the five plaintiffs claimed Thursday (Jan. 19) that Applied Materials sought to "starve its competitors of the equipment parts necessary to refurbish and reconfigure microchip manufacturing equipment needed by today’s high-tech product makers." The Watts Law Firm (San Antonio, Texas) said it filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Austin on behalf of the five companies: Austin-based Silicon Services Consortium Inc. and Semiconductor Support Services Co.; and Phoenix-based OEM Surplus, Inc., Precision Technician Inc. and Semiconductor Equipment Specialist Inc. The companies alleged that Applied Materials' practices violated U.S. antitrust laws. They claimed the violations could collectively cost them $100 million in lost equipment value, future business and revenues. They also alleged that Applied Materials is manipulating the equipment market to create a monopoly for itself in the IC manufacturing equipment industry. Lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Mikal Watts, said in a statement: "At this point we do not believe that the actual damages have reached $100 million, but by the time of trial they are expected to be pretty close to that figure." Applied Materials raised eyebrows when it acquired parts supplier and refurbisher Metron Technology N.V. for $85 million in 2004. Applied Materials could not be reached for comment when this story was posted.