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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Francis Chow who wrote (54039)	4/21/1998 3:11:00 PM
From: Thomas M.	Respond to of 186894

msnbc.com

To: Francis Chow who wrote (54039)	4/21/1998 11:51:00 PM
From: SisterMaryElephant	Respond to of 186894

Francis, <I don't see how build-to-order can be viewed as a positive for Intel or any other chipmaker. It still takes 3 months to go from wafer start to finished chip (am I right or wrong??) so someone has to predict demand and hold the inventories. If the box maker won't hold the inventory, Intel will, and there's a cost to doing that.> BTO is the current rage. There is a reason for this. Demand is soft, and BTO is the way to go (no pun intended). While CPQ's inventory may be held by Intel in the future, as long as there is end user demand, Intel can probably find a number of smaller PC ( 3rd tier ) OEM's that will be glad to take Intel's chips. A few years ago smaller OEM's complained because Intel did not have enough chips for them, no doubt because the larger OEM's ordered in much larger quantities. Under this type of scenario, where demand is strong, the BTO model will be less valuable unless the OEM's are very "swift". It works both ways and in cycles. Ultimately, the key is end user demand. JMO. SK