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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Narotham Reddy who wrote (10013)	10/29/1997 8:54:00 PM
From: Tom O'Brien	Respond to of 70976

On a more positive note (from the WSJ): Chip Sales Should Rebound Strongly In '98, Forecast Says By MARK BOSLET Dow Jones Newswires PALO ALTO, Calif. -- World-wide semiconductor sales should rebound strongly in 1998 and continue gathering steam in 1999 and 2000, an industry group says. The projected 1998 growth rate of 16.8% - which will push sales to $162.6 billion - follows what will be 5.5% growth in 1997, the Semiconductor Industry Association said in its closely watched annual market forecast. Growth in 1997 was cut almost in half by the strong U.S. dollar and continued to suffer from a slump in DRAM pricing. Sales of DRAMs, which function as a computer's short-term memory, are projected to fall 16.9% in 1997 to $20.8 billion, continuing a decline that began in 1996 sparked by over-capacity. However, DRAM sales are expected to increase 20% in 1998, providing an important boost to overall market growth. The SIA's market forecast is put together by researchers from 70 top semiconductor companies and for that reason becomes an important yardstick for the industry. In this year's forecast, the SIA sees overall market sales building on 1998's strong growth, climbing by 19% in 1999 and 20% in 2000. Sales in 1999 should amount to $193.5 billion and by 2000 reach $232.3 billion. Sales in 1997 would have risen 10.4% if the value of the dollar hadn't appreciated so much compared with the yen and European currencies. The forecast projects DRAMs, which made up the market's largest product category in 1996 only to be eclipsed by microprocessors in 1997, should see improved market growth in 1999 and 2000, rising more than 28% both years. The SIA sees strong Asia-Pacific sales continuing. -Mark Boslet; 415 496-1366