Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. K. G. who wrote (14109)	2/4/1998 1:18:00 PM
From: Nevin S.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25960

Denis, As one might imagine, Johnson's article got me in a pucker last night. On the one hand Carl has been on the money for many of his calls. I know around the beginning of Jan. he was touting Teradyne and Cohu, especially TER, and now its up over 10 points or 33%. On the other hand, his last couple of posts on TechWeb had an element of "sky is falling" to them and were probably designed to draw in more subscribers. In general, what I read into his comments was that one unnamed chip maker was having problems with DUV process equipment. He didn't indicate where or what part of the process but I came away thinking it was with the stepper not the laser or possibly the photoresist. From what I've read about printing .25 micron features and below, there are a lot of trouble spots that can lead to unacceptable yield levels. In any event, the reason I posted was to get some discussion going, as these comments (made by someone who follows the industry closely)do not portend good things for DUV and ultimately Cymer investors at least for the near term. The comments related to INTC were good in that, here is a market leader openly stating that they will use this upcoming year to distance themselves from competitors through upgrades in process technology. This would certainly take the form of several cost cutting measures such as transition to 300 MM wafers and smaller line widths and ultimately smaller die sizes, which reduce their cost of production. If INTC is doing this, their competitors better ante up or they will be left in the dust. This is exactly the reason I invested in CYMI in the first place. I don't care if there is a glut of DRAM mfg capacity (or other types of ICs)because this will only drive companies like MU and others to find ways of reducing their cost structures to become more profitable in a climate of steadily falling ASPs - and that means smaller die sizes, and that means smaller feature sizes, and that ultimately means DUV lasers. Sorry if I seemed impatient this morning looking for a response my post - too much coffee and too many other things flying here at the office.