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To: Rob-Chemist who wrote (1473)	5/18/1998 10:15:00 PM
From: robert b furman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3813

Rob - have a triathalon friend who works for Lam. He is a technician that sets up the install of new equipment. Complains about all the pressure upper mgt exerts at install time. His comments regarding NVLS often criticize their flawed efforts to do multiple processes simultaneously Something which Lam believes should not be violated (speed vs yield tradeoff ). I am not technical enough to have opinion but will follow up. I think a combined effort of these two companies really makes a lot of sense.Merger mania has not yet hit the techs and I anticipate it will ( sooner than later). The economies of scale from joint ventures on high dollar-hi tech investments just begs for this market action. If chrysler and mercedes can gain efficiencies - what about NVLS and LRCX - sounds good to me and thanks for the info Very kind of you to share P.S. are you a stockholder of these ? Bob

To: Rob-Chemist who wrote (1473)	5/18/1998 11:13:00 PM
From: SemiBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3813

<<em like a nice synergy, Lam with the etch/CMP and Novelus with the CVD/PVD. I wonder if the two companies will decide upon a common cluster platform in the near future.>> I believe to date Lam's Ontrack unit responsible for their CMP has gained little to no market share in competing with SFAM, AMAT and IPEC. I don't expect this to change. Ontrack's CMP tool is not competitive and I would be more surprised in NVLS didn't buyout SFAM than rely on Ontrack's CMP tool for Damascene dominance. Lam's etch strength is probably the story here. Just one man's spin....SemiBull