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Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gambler2 who wrote (3987)	12/19/1997 11:40:00 AM
From: Teri Skogerboe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

I agree. It also seems very odd that I can't find confirmation of it anywhere. I have written CNBC and asked if they reported this last night. It seems like it was after bull-session. Some news I stumbled upon while searching for any Lehman news. 12/19: Nippon Steel Unit Scraps Plan to Manufacture 64-Megabit DRAM Chips TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Nippon Steel Semiconductor Corp. said Friday that it is canceling plans to make 64-megabit dynamic random access memories in Japan and will concentrate instead on made-to-order logic memory chips. A spokesman said while the company will shut down one of its three semiconductor production lines by March 1998, it would continue to make one-megabit, four-megabit and 16-megabit DRAMs. The company will start selling 64-megabit DRAMs made by a Singapore-based joint-venture between Nippon Steel Corp. (NISTF), the parent of Nippon Steel Semiconductor, and Hitachi Ltd. (HIT) by mid-1998, the spokesman said. "We're not getting out of the DRAM business, we're just adding the logic business," the spokesman said. He said the company made the decision in order to improve profitability, adding that it was already in talks with several companies to produce the logic chips. Regarding the expected positive effect on profits, he said it would be after next year. Part of the 17 billion yen that was planned for the 64-megabit line will be used for logic chip production, the spokesman said. Japanese chipmakers have been delaying plans to add production facilities in response to a sharp fall in prices. Prices for 64-megabit DRAM chips have fallen 40% in the last two months, prompting producers to slash investments in plant and equipment. Reports in Japan say Hitachi will postpone opening new facilities at its Naka plant in Ibaraki Prefecture for a year. The 150-billion-yen ($1.2 billion) line was scheduled to start commercial production of 64-megabit DRAMs in fiscal 1999. Hitachi is also considering reducing capacity at the plant. Toshiba Corp. plans to hold off on building a 130-billion-yen plant in Iwate Prefecture, and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. may cut capital spending in the next fiscal year by 10% to 20%. Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ---