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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/5/1997 7:22:00 PM
From: Mr. Aloha	Respond to of 25960

Thanks for the info. I believe there is plenty of room for outside competition. It would be nice to see Cymer get all the DUV sales but that's unrealistic. With the amount of orders and profit from service etc.. there's plenty of DUV $$$ to go around. Once Komatsu get's their 248nm production up, CYMER will be pushing the 193nm laser in 1999. 1998 will be all 248nm units. Cymer has a production record, it will take Komatsu time to gain acceptance. Here's another excerpt from the Feb. '97 article I though was educational.. "The semiconductor industry began to slump in late 1995. But paradoxically the slump increased demand for Cymer's next-generation technology. Chipmakers decided that the only way to shore up their shrinking profit margins was to move ahead. "Moore's Law is more of an economic imperative than anything else," says Akins. "If the industry wasn't in the doldrums, this wouldn't be happening." Cymer expected stepper manufacturers to follow an established buying pattern, ordering just a few of the lasers for testing, then buying large numbers nine months later. Didn't happen. Demand from chipmakers forced the stepper companies right into high-volume buying soon after Cymer launched its $450,000 model." They need to keep moving ahead to make $$$$. :-) Aloha

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/5/1997 7:27:00 PM
From: FJB	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25960

Thanks for the update. The production numbers you cite were in the Komatsu press release when they announced their KrF laser and are not news. They were even contradicted later by Goto in his Nikon report. Why is Komatsu advertising they are good for 300mm? What about KrF and 200mm? Bob

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/5/1997 9:17:00 PM
From: diana g	Respond to of 25960

Thank you! Not encouraging, eh? Appreciate your efforts and honest reporting. Also look forward to Yousef's update. Best Regards, diana

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/6/1997 12:58:00 AM
From: Yakov Lurye	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

THC, thanks for your report. Two quick comments: 1) While I understand the importance of CYMER participation in Semicon, I don't think that their booth had to be large. After all, they don't sell their lasers directly to end users, and all stepper companies know their products well. I was wondering though what kind of laser were they and their competitors showing - 248nm or 193nm? 2) Nikon saleseman told you: "Cymer ... does not have the resources to offer good service to all companies. Some little companies in Taiwan feel neglected by Cymer, and are starting to ask for Komatsu." It is quite possible that CYMER is currently overextended trying to service multiple pilot installations. They as much as said so in the last 10Q, but they'd also said that they are establishing CYMER service centers in Taiwan and Korea. Besides, potential market is large enough to accomodate both CYMER and its competitors (especially if they are reduced to servicing smaller comapanies). A more worrisome interpretation would be that Nikon (largest CYMER's customer) is having problems with proving in pilot steppers and uses CYMER lasers as an excuse. I doubt that customers would be particular about the laser supplier if Nikon's pilot steppers worked well (especially when an alternative to CYMER laser is a relatively untested Komatsu product). A suggestion that changing the laser supplier would help is more likely to come from the stepper manufacturer looking for an excuse than from a customer. Hopefully, Nikon's problems are temporary - they'd announced plans to sell 200 latest model DUV steppers next year. On a positive side, suggestion that Nikon is already shipping equipment that includes 248nm lasers to small companies (and by inference to large companies) should mitigate worries about the on-hand inventory of CYMER lasers at Nikon and other stepper manufacturers. Regards, Y.

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/6/1997 3:43:00 PM
From: Tulvio Durand	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25960

"KOMATSU IS GOING TO BE A PLAYER IN THIS MARKET." Akins has stated that Komatsu will be a player, albeit a minor player, and welcomes them aboard so as to dispel the onus of being monopolistic. He drew a parallel to the present suppliers of Mercury litho bulbs where, of the several available suppliers, ONE supplies over 90% of them (sorry I forgot name of company). That principal Mercury-bulb supplier sells their product at about 10% MORE cost and delivers about 10% more reliability/life than those of its competitors. Chip makers are willing to pay a little more to get the more reliable tool so as to minimizes production down time. Akins envisions Cymer as being the principal supplier of DUV litho lasers because it offers superior performance at (perhaps) slightly more cost. For a performance comparison of Cymer, Komatsu, and Lam-P next generation ArF laser see: techstocks.com Thanks, THC, for the first person report on SEMICON. Sounds like Cymer hasn't totally solved its PR problems. Tulvio

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (11060)	12/10/1997 2:29:00 AM
From: Yousef	Read Replies (8) \| Respond to of 25960

THC, Re: "Next we need to get Yousef's update from his meeting with Nikon U.S." I had a meeting with the technical representatives of NPI (Nikon Precision Instruments). I got the answer to a number of questions about Cymer as well as sales forecasts for DUV tools for '97 and '98. Nikon currently sells two models of DUV tools. The S202 (scanner) and the EX12B (Body 12 DUV stepper). Total DUV tool deliveries (both S202 and EX12B) for '97 will total 75 - 100 tools. Next year, they expect to sell about 50 scanners in the US and a total of 150 tools. (The EX12B is a .25um - .30um tool and the S202 is a .18um - .25um tool) Delivery leadtimes are about 15months for a stepper and 18 - 24 months for a scanner!! Nikon sells the majority of their tools with Cymer lasers, but they did say that a number of Japanese tools have been shipped with Komatsu lasers. They also indicated that there have been problems with Cymer lasers, but Cymer has been working hard to fix these: 1) Laser chambers "died" within a short period of time (covered by warranty) 2) Problems with their "solid state" power modules 3) Problems with their High Voltage HV supplies 4) Software problems ... we didn't discuss this much. Nikon is also evaluating other vendors: 1) Luminomics (sp?) - Nikon is not impressed with them. 2) Komatsu - Nikon is shipping some Japanese tools with this laser. 3) Lambda-Physik - Nikon is very impressed, good results and outstanding technology. Currently, Nikon has about 100 Cymer lasers in the field. I was also surprised to learn that the interface between the laser and DUV tool is not custom, so that a customer can use any of the above laser vendors. I currently have a DUV tool that was delivered in October. The Cymer laser was one of the first things that was "fired up", so that laser has been running for about 2 months with no problems. I will know much more about the laser when we start acceptance testing in late December. I should be able to give a follow-up post in early January. My assessment ... Obviously, Cymer has the majority of the 248nm laser business currently. Japanese companies are tending to want an alternate Japanese laser vendor. Lambda-Physik could be another alternative supplier in '98 or '99. This 248nm laser will be used for both .25um and .18um technologies (should last the next 5 years). Cymer has had some early problems due to fast growth and debugging the early lasers. I think Cymer prospects look very good in '98, but I would watch for competitors to take some of their market share starting late in '98. Hope this helps, Yousef