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

To: akidron who wrote (18991)	4/24/1998 12:56:00 AM
From: Ian@SI	Respond to of 70976

Applied's 14 years in China showing some growth potential By Mark Carroll SHANGHAI, China -- Applied Materials Inc. is beginning to see the fruits from 14 years of efforts in China. This year, Applied Materials China (AMC) expects to see revenues of $20 million in the Communist country--an order of magnitude increase over the subsidiary's $2 million in sales last year. While AMC's business is much smaller than what Applied is recording in Taiwan these days--about $800 million in annual equipment sales--company officials are hopeful that China will soon turn into a major market for semiconductor production gear. "This year we have currently booked at least $50 million in China orders," said R.L. Chen, deputy general manager for AMC. "It's uncertain when our customers will want to take delivery of these orders but we estimate that at least $20 million will be sold this year." However, it remains unclear whether sales growth will continue in the immediate future. "After the current two 8-inch fabs, there aren't yet any new fabs on the horizon in China," Chen said. While it waits for new sales, AMC is basing its business efforts in China on the most elusive but predominant Chinese concept: "guang shi." The idea is to maintain very close business relationships with customers, standing by them through good and bad times--a practice fully embraced by AMC for 14 years, according to Chen.