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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Adam Nash who wrote (18981)	4/23/1998 2:59:00 PM
From: Teri Skogerboe	Respond to of 70976

Taiwan Semicon <2330.TW> wary on '98 outlook TAIPEI, April 23 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co followed up Thursday's announcement of strong first-quarter earnings with a cautious outlook for the second quarter and the rest of 1998. "We expect to see a declining trend in the second quarter from the first quarter," Huang Yen-chun, spokesman for Taiwan's leading semiconductor manufacturer, told Taiwan securities analysts at a seminar after the earnings announcement. Chief financial officer Harvey Chang suggested that some of the more optimistic growth forecasts for the industry would not be achieved, though the company is adding production capacity to meet with any demand scenario. "Many people had expected 18 to 20 percent growth for the entire semiconductor industry," he said. "The second quarter does not look good and we are cautious in our outlook for the rest of the year. Growth of the semiconductor industry might not be as good as most people had expected," he said. Chang declined to make any specific forecasts for Taiwan Semiconductor's 1998 performance. "Although many industrial experts are forecasting healthy growth in second half (of 1998), we don't see that trend right now. But we think it's a possible scenario," he said. Taiwan Semiconductor said in February it expected global demand for its main products -- custom-made "foundry" microchips -- to grow 23 percent in 1998 to US$8 billion. Taiwan Semicon is the world leader in such semiconductors. The company in February had forecast overall global demand for microchips to rise 10 percent in 1998, with most of the growth coming in the second half. The main drags on growth, it said, were Asia's currency turmoil and sluggishness in Japan's economy, both of which were slowing regional demand. Taiwan Semicon nonetheless was boosting its production capacity in 1998 by 40 percent to 1.67 million 8-inch wafer equivalents, it said in February. 03:50 04-23-98 Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ------------------