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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ET who wrote (2069)	1/5/1998 1:04:00 AM
From: Stitch	Respond to of 9256

ET, Nice link, many thanks. It may be a good time for those of us on this thread to take an inventory of whats good and whats bad about the DD sector. Here are my thoughts: Good: -Demand projected to grow another 20% in unit terms in 1998 -Consolidation may occur but will help the strong cos. in the long term -Future trends support continued growth ie. data broadcasting, netcentricity, voice recognition etc. -Overcapacity problem now may be a plus in the future. When growth hits we will be ready for it, captilization needs may not be as hefty. -Costs to manufacture in Asia have been getting cheaper. -techonolgy advances arent slowing down (witness IBM's recent) Bad: -Over expansion has led to excess inventory, excess capacity killing op statements in near term. -Concerns over Asia clouding the future (not just true in DD sector) -Facing big tech challenges in MR/GMR conversion, Pico slider conversion, very low fly heights, laser texturing, higher coercivity, -Intense capital rquirements -low gross margins -Facing change in customer buying practices (BTO model) -pressure and confusion from cheap PC Please, somebody help me finish this list. best, Stitch