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

To: Big Bucks who wrote (14449)	1/12/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Trader X	Respond to of 70976

Bullish news -- DRAM prices stablizing: yahoo.com Micron Shares Gain, Memory Chip Prices Higher NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of memory chip maker Micron Technology jumped on higher spot prices of computer memory chips and on rumors of chip production constraints in South Korea that could curb supply. "Prices for 16 megabit chips in certain configurations have gone up 25 to 30 percent in the past two days," said Michael Gumport, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. "There are rumors Korean companies are having trouble paying for packaging and that is causing delays in shipments. Whether or not this is true, the fact is DRAM prices have gone up." Shares of Boise, Idaho-based Micron rose $1-7/8 to $28-3/8 in active trading. "We have seen a little bit of an uptick in the spot market in the last day or so, and I believe that is the reason Micron has moved up," said Mark Edelstone, a Morgan Stanley analyst. There are also rumors that Korean companies, which produce about 35 percent of the world's dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, are unable to get credit necessary to buy epoxy resin from the few Japanese companies who make it. Epoxy resin is a key element in the packaging of the chips, traders said. This would reduce the supply of chips on the market and drive prices higher, they said. Analysts said spot prices were rising, though they were unsure if the increases could be sustained. "If it is just a packaging issue, it will resolve itself ... " Gumport said. "In the last 24 to 48 hours, prices of one 16 megabit device part have moved about 25 percent," said Kaz Bilinski, director of outside sales at the American IC Exchange, a technology clearing house that tracks semiconductor pricing. But he added that the price moves were happening too fast too be sustainable. --- -Kevin