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Technology Stocks : FSII - The Worst is Over? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Dancy who wrote (1873)	4/8/1998 5:16:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 2754

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 1998--SMST, a joint venture of Philips Semiconductor and IBM in Germany, has named FSI International/Metron Technology its top supplier for 1997. The award was based on the FSI/Metron support for 12 POLARIS(R) Microlithography Clusters located at its facility in Boeblingen. The Top Supplier award was presented on March 12 at FSI's Microlithography Division office in Allen, Texas by SMST fab manager Gunther Gauss. "This is one of the largest installations of POLARIS Clusters in Germany," says Norbert Schroder, director of the European based Microlithography Group (MLG), who praised the good team spirit among the SMST/FSI/Metron team which resulted in making this project successful. "The award is a very important milestone for us as it shows the capability and flexibility of the MLG group to support large volumes of the Microlithography Division products in the European market. This will be significant as associated companies make their new equipment selection decisions." Metron is FSI's sales and support partner in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. FSI and Metron have a unique relationship in which FSI has a 37.5% ownership. Product teams, such as MLG, were set up between FSI and Metron to respond to global customer expectations for more direct presence and to provide total product solutions. Successful technology support strategies are now being expanded to FSI's Surface Conditioning and Chemical Management Divisions. Joe, I agree, Money coming in from Japan, might add fuel to this overvalued market. Unfortunately, it looks like the internet stocks will get it! I think the eqp mfg sector is dead meat for a while. I guess what I'm trying to say here, I'm on the sidelines, not convinced we're at the bottom.

To: Joe Dancy who wrote (1873)	4/8/1998 11:39:00 PM
From: Alan Edgett	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2754

Thanks for the links. I agree this is very much a political problem, but doubt the current government has the wherewithal to enact the required medicine similar to Hoover in the 30's. The resultant breaking of the YEn (say to 145 or higher) will crush many businesses with ties to ASIA and destroy the smaller countries. Such a scenario will more than offset any capital inflow "wave' IMHO as earnings stagnate in even our larger firms for a few months. I'll be in Jakarta next week examining firms there and how they're dealing with this crisis. I'll let you know what Hughes, Coca-Cola, and Chase execs in-country think. Certainly FSII's cash/debt ratio is strong for the near-term, but such a cap-heavy industry is bound to take longer to recover if this gets any worse. I'm not sure I see the logic in holding throughout as there probably won't be a "good" surprises, and there should certainly be enough time to "see" the turn. Anyway, good luck to all in any event. edge