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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (14246)	1/7/1998 5:02:00 PM
From: Kevin Trilli	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

This is dated the 5th, I don't remember seeing it on here.... James Morgan, chairman and CEO of Applied Materials, expressed the eternal truth about forecasting the market for semiconductor equipment and materials: "It all depends on the overall demand for chips." Korea's troubles at the end of 1997 don't perturb Applied, especially. "We don't have Korea as a high buyer for '98," Mr. Morgan said. He estimates Korea will represent 4 percent of Applied's sales in fiscal '98, after accounting for about 8 percent of sales in fiscal 1997. As the recent news of big orders for Applied indicates, the scene is shifting to the island nation of Taiwan, which is "trying to become supplier of choice" for DRAMs and other devices. Applied was feeling flush enough to put on two huge 30th anniversary parties for its employees in early November, one featuring Bob Dylan in San Jose, Calif., and another with Stevie Wonder in Austin, Texas. Applied declined to specify the cost of the festivities, but observers estimated the combined price tag at up to $2 million. Mr. Morgan said the occasion justified rewarding the employees who have built the company into a $4 billion behemoth of the equipment business. "I'm really proud of them," he said. Lam Research doesn't expect 1998 "to be a bad year," said Steve Newberry, executive VP and COO of Lam. "Currently, what we're seeing for late 1997, 1Q98 is picking up over what it's been for the first nine months of 1997," he added. Semiconductor segments outside of the memory business are generally doing well, he noted. "ASICs have stayed strong. Microprocessors,microcontrollers--we have continued to see these things invested in." sumnet.com