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

To: Tech Buyer who wrote (10175)	10/31/1997 8:43:00 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

TB You have stated the obvious, of course an 8 inch fab will meet the immediate requirements of production for years to come. An analogy might be along the lines of "Who was the last airplane manufacturer who was building propeller driven fighter aircraft while others were building jet fighter aircraft?" If you are out gunned and out performed you don't stand much of a chance in a direct "one-on-one" confrontation. If you are making DRAM at a cost of $4.50 per chip but your competition is making it for $$2.00 per chip, you will soon be out of business purely due to the economics of the situation. The 8 inch fabs that have similar competitive products to a 12" fab will lose in the long term. Fabs want to convey to their customers and their shareholders that they are on the leading edge of technology not lagging behind with obsolete equipment and non- competitive pricing. Just my opinion, BB