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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stoctrash who wrote (30230)	3/4/1998 11:27:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Yeah, rumors have a way of self-perpetuating and changing over time. But you never know. Just give it a tick bath and a flea collar. And put it outside to disturb the neighbors if it barks at the moon.

To: Stoctrash who wrote (30230)	3/4/1998 1:45:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

TI to re-focus on DSP technology (again)................. techweb.cmp.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted at noon EST/9 a.m. PST, 3/4/98 TI keeps tight lip on its DRAM plans By J. Robert Lineback DALLAS -- Texas Instruments Inc. today refused to say whether it will stay in DRAMs or eventually pull out of the fickle memory segment after announcing plans to sell its 33% stake in a DRAM-manufacturing joint venture to partner Acer Group in Taiwan (see today's story). "It is TI's policy to have no comment on unannounced plans regarding mergers, acquisitions or divestitures," responded a TI corporate spokeswoman here. TI's decision to sell off its share in the company's original DRAM joint venture raises major questions about the remaining joint ventures as well as its participation in the DRAM business, according to analysts and industry observers. For months, analysts have speculated that the Dallas company was planning to leave or at least greatly de-emphasize DRAMs so it could focus more attention on digital signal processing (DSP). On Thursday, TI executives will host an annual financial analyst and press briefing in Dallas to explain the company's product strategies, including DSP. However, TI is not expected to spend much time talking about DRAMs, according to the corporate spokeswoman. "We will answer questions," she added. During the same briefing a year ago, many financial analysts expressed unhappiness over the lack of information about TI's DRAM plans and strategy. Many analysts also feel TI has not been doing a good job addressing its non-DSP activities in the past year or two (see story from SBN's December publication). Meanwhile, TI is now trying to figure out what to do its former DRAM joint venture with Hitachi Ltd., called TwinStar Semiconductor Inc. in Richardson, Tex. In February, the two companies announced that they would discontinue the joint venture with TI agreeing to buy Hitachi's 36.4% interest. "We haven't yet decided what to do with TwinStar in the long-term," said the company spokeswoman. As for the TI-Acer Inc. joint venture, Texas Instruments concluded that it did not want to make additional investments in the Taiwan DRAM venture, leading to its decision to pull out of the arrangement. "Acer was interested in getting into the silicon foundry business, and that did not fit into our long-term strategy," the TI spokeswoman said. At this time, no changes have been announced regarding TI's DRAM joint ventures in Singapore and Japan. In Singapore, the TECH Semiconductor venture is by TI, Hewlett-Packard, Canon and the Singapore Economic Development Board. It is currently producing 16-Mbit DRAMs. In Japan, TI also maintains a DRAM joint venture with Kobe Steel Ltd. TI's only wholly-owned DRAM facility is in Avezzano, Italy, which has received millions of dollars in government investments over the recent years.