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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: William Wang who wrote (8727)	4/1/1998 3:05:00 AM
From: HammerHead	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Don't play April fool. Here is real from DJ news: Asian Economic Woes Not Hurting SunMicrosys - Co Exec By Sean Kennedy HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--The biggest headache for Asia has become Japan's sluggish economy, which can no longer drive the region's economic growth, Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) Chief Strategy Officer William Raduchel said. But the Asian turmoil hasn't affected Sun Microsystems, which makes hardware, software and services intranets. And Raduchel doesn't expect it to. 'The most worrisome thing in Asia continues to be the (continued) economic pressures in Japan,' said Raduchel, in Hong Kong as an Asian tour to check operations and possible opportunities for the U.S. computer giant. Some of the company's products are assembled in Japan. 'We haven't pulled back. We haven't lost faith. We'll weather this crisis, and so will a lot of other people,' he said. In its heyday, Japan dealt with a strong yen by expanding manufacturing in the region, strengthening other economies in its wake, but now it's in the doldrums, and unable to pull the rest of the region ahead, Raduchel said. 'I don't see any psychological or anecdotal signs of a turnaround (in Japan),' Raduchel said, adding that he thinks talk of the Asian crisis is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. 'It was a shock. Saying it was a shock is one thing. Saying it's a crisis is another,' he said. While Sun Microsystems, one of information technology's corporate heavyweights with annual revenue of more than US$9 billion, hasn't been hit by the currency crisis, it won't benefit from the economic downturn either. In Taiwan, he said, a Taiwan contractor makes low-end workstations for Sun Microsystems, but the costs are so low and assembly so fast now that he doesn't see room for further savings in Taiwan because of the cheaper currency. Sun Microsystems may benefit some from South Korea's won devaluation, and from the lower cost base of South Korean companies supplying Sun with components. 'They're our principal DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip supplier so I expect we'll be able to get aggressive pricing in DRAMs, which will help,' he said. Raduchel said he's optimistic about the long-term prospects for the region, but doesn't plan to take advantage of cheap Asian assets by scooping up smaller companies or parts manufacturers. 'Maybe we should. Maybe we're missing opportunities,' he admitted. But while absorbing a company in Silicon Valley is relatively straightforward, it's not that easy to absorb a firm from a foreign country and culture. 'We have yet to do a significant overseas acquisition,' he said. Raduchel declined to offer an opinion on the company's earnings prospects, as its third quarter ended Tuesday.