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To: FJB who wrote (1668)	6/1/1998 11:00:00 AM
From: TI2, TechInvestorToo	Respond to of 2946

The fact that they evaluate others is not a concern. Semi companies typically have a steering committee that generates a list of evaluation criteria and benchmarks several (if not all) suppliers. This is where the sales and marketting people have to make sure that the product, manufacturing capacity, service of their product are fairly represented in the process. TI2

To: FJB who wrote (1668)	6/3/1998 11:11:00 AM
From: David Aegis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2946

1) Article on Thermco next generation product development biz.yahoo.com This news is consistent with what I saw on a plant visit in late February. The Thermco people are very optimistic about new product features such 300mm with the RVP 300 and nitride gate, TEOS, anneal, oxidation and cycle time improvements on the RVP200. Much of this was too technical for me to understand the relative merits of vis-a-vis the competition, but I think I am a good judge of people, and the Thermco people I spoke with were all truly excited about these new developments. 2) >>but heck, we're at book value<< Papken says: "You can't fall too far when you're already in the basement." <g> --David

To: FJB who wrote (1668)	6/3/1998 10:01:00 PM
From: James Word	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2946

Robert RE: Customers evaluating ASML steppers. Robert, the list of companies evaluating ASML steppers is much larger than the one you gave. But it doesn't really matter that much. Most of the big IC companies can afford to devote considerable effort to evaluating ALL stepper vendors. I'll bet you that the list of companies evaluating SVGL is almost as impressive as the ASML list. IMHO, SVGL's Micrascan is still preferred for manufacturing leading edge microprocessors where linewidth control is the paramount concern. It will probably never penetrate too deeply into cost-sensitive markets like memories, where tool cost and throughput are as important as resolution. Those Micrascans are sweet, but you need an extra $1 - $1.5 mil bucks to buy one. I sat through a 2 hour Micrascan presentation today, including a peek at their roadmap for future technology for the next several years. Having sat through similar presentations from the "other" guys, SVGL's impressed me the most. However, just because they have impressive technology doesn't mean they will be a profitable company in the future. Also, I can't elaborate on details given to me during the Micrascan presentation, so please don't ask. I'm bound by non-disclosure agreements. James Word