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To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (531)	7/22/1998 10:34:00 AM
From: csm	Respond to of 754

In April 96, I believe management indicated that revenues and earnings would be flat (compared to year earlier levels) going forward. At the same time, I think, there was a lot of attention to book-to-bill ratios being below 1 in the chip industry in general. Best I can do from memory. Stuart.

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (531)	7/22/1998 10:51:00 AM
From: Don Lloyd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 754

Thomas - <<Does anybody remember what management guidance was when they announced results in April 96? A faint hope only, I know, but this would be helpful.>> I believe the sequential revenue went from $104M to $90M, and that this was immediately reflected almost exactly in the analysts' revenue projections, so the guidance was presumably on the money. This is all from memory and I can't back it up. At that time, the guidance was not as specific in the published earnings reports as it is now. The difference between now and then is that the problem followed a period of unsustainable over-ordering which eventually needed 3 quarters to work down the excess inventory. Sequential revenue gains had previously exceeded 10% for 2 or 3 quarters. Now we are not in that situation of overshipments into a normal to strong economy, rather we are seeing past normal shipments into a possibly weakening economy. If you look at the flat quarters, the impacts on margins was minimal, as presumably the older and less productive fab lines in CA were allowed to stand down. This will undoubtedly be the case again as some of the older lines are already slated for decommission, in a sense. Unless the economy really falls out of bed, which is not impossible, the margins should hold up well, as mentioned in the published release. Regards, Don

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (531)	7/22/1998 6:09:00 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 754

Thomas, here's a post from May'96 where somebody talked to the CFO. You had asked about management guidance then. exchange2000.com GM

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (531)	7/22/1998 6:48:00 PM
From: Barry Cartwright	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 754

Conference call also pointed out that during last downtrend, OEM and distributors were buying like crazy which plugged inventory channels. Then orders stopped coming in. Too much anticipation of sales by end users created too much growth. Today is different, OEM and distributors are being cautious given all the bad semiconductor and Asian news so they hesitate to order. Expect strong stock rebound long before xmas if things go as management plans.