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

To: derek cao who wrote (15335)	2/2/1998 4:47:00 PM
From: Clarksterh	Respond to of 70976

Derek - combining high interest rate with some collaterals such as fab's output or equipment, it will be a good business decision to lend the money. (to the Asian semi manufacturers.) What collateral? Many of them would be insolvent now if they were American. And, in addition, the Asian legal systems do not currently allow for foreclosure/bankruptcy. (There are many American companies that have been burned by exactly this problem in the last few years.) Add to this the fact that semi-equipment is obsolete within three years and security for this type of investment in Asia is non existent. Yes, I agree that if you are extremely knowledgable about the business systems in place over there, there are probably many bargains. But, even the experts are having troubles, so it scares me to death to think of some technical companies trying to work it out. Once the IMF reforms take effect, I would feel much more comfortable about such investments. Clark PS Note that collateral in fab output would have been utterly useless in the last two years. None of the DRAM manufacturers have made any appreciable money.