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Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Dieterich who wrote (5647)	6/3/1998 6:45:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

(more on story that Koreans are out to cut DRAM production) from wsj.com: South Korea's Chip Makers Consider Production Cuts Dow Jones Newswires SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's computer memory chip makers said Tuesday they were considering cutting production to shore up falling global chip prices. "Because of a global supply glut, we agree in principle that we must cut production," said Hong Kyong Tae, a spokesman of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip producer. The other two major chip makers -- Hyundai Electronics Industry Co. and LG Semicon -- also admitted that the plunge in memory chip prices has eroded their earnings, forcing them to consider measures to shore up the prices. On Tuesday, domestic news media reported that the three South Korean producers may idle some of their production lines for four days around South Korea's Memorial Day holiday Saturday, with further cutbacks planned in the months ahead. The three companies said they have yet to work out cutback plans. The three South Korean firms supply 40% of the world's computer memory chips, called Dynamic Random Access Memory chips. Japanese and U.S. chip makers have charged that South Korea's rapid expansion of facilities resulted in the drastic price cuts. South Korea put the blame on such new market entries as Taiwan. South Korea currently produces 57 million 16-megabit DRAM chips and 23 million 64-megabit DRAMs a year. Memory chips store operating instructions for electronic products such as personal computers. In the first quarter of this year, South Korea sold its 64-megabit chips for around $9 each. At the same time last year, it was getting $15 a chip. In 1997, South Korea exported $17.5 billion worth of semiconductors, or 12.8% of the country's total exports