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

To: shane forbes who wrote (5714)	6/6/1998 7:49:00 AM
From: Justa Werkenstiff	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10921

All: Very Interesting article on Asian situation. One excerpt: "Industry executives had their chance to respond, agreeing that one of the major growth drivers will be the increasing demand for Information Age and chip-driven products, especially sub-$1,000 PCs, laptops and palmtops, and Internet access products. They agreed that in the near term, aging baby boomers could represent as much as an $800 million market for PCs alone. One Japanese CEO commented that the most important growth indicator in the industry was "shopping bags in the Ginza!" CEOs further expanded on this discussion, saying that the explosive growth in chip-driven electronics is triggering a shift in the "power of technology" from semiconductor manufacturers to equipment manufacturers. The lack of awareness of this shift among the investment community might be contributing to the volatility and uncertainty. As one CEO noted, "Investors may not be aware that the equipment industry is no longer selling a service to semiconductor manufacturers. We're selling the seeds they need to plant in order to be successful. Therefore, we have control over price. I'd even go so far as to say that today it's safer to be an equipment manufacturer than a semiconductor manufacturer." CEOs noted that although the investment community appears to understand the difference between, for instance, an Intel and a KLA-Tencor, it still appears that equipment stocks trade largely in step with the semiconductor industry. Additional insight was provided by one U.S. CEO who said, "Historically, our stocks have come off the bottom at the same time as the semiconductor industry, and they've all peaked at the same time. Over time, I think this will change, and therefore it's important for the global investment community to look at us as two separate industries, and to judge each of us on our own merits." For the most part, CEOs agreed that in recent years SEMI has been helpful in assisting the global investment community in differentiating between equipment and materials companies and semiconductor device companies, and that it is important to maintain this dialog with the global investment community. As far as the Asian capital market goes, one CEO commented, "There are many tigers in Asia. If one, say Korea, doesn't keep pace with the industry's growth, then other players such as Taiwan, Singapore or China will step in. Where Korea is currently experiencing bad times, Taiwan is experiencing feverish times . . . it will take time to see how this will play out." This profound comment illustrated a key consensus reached during the roundtable: there is enough strength in certain Asian capital markets to pick up the slack for other markets experiencing financial setbacks. In the long-term, the Asian fiscal crisis will most likely stabilize." dom.semi.org