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To: REH who wrote (5891)	7/29/1998 11:58:00 AM
From: REH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Computer-Chip Companies to Look for Bright Spots at Conference Computer-Chip Companies to Look for Bright Spots at Conference San Francisco, July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Some of the world's largest semiconductor companies will gather this week to try to convince investors to stick by them as computer-chip prices fall and the economic crisis in Asia worsens. Executives from Intel Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., Rambus Inc., LSI Logic Corp. and others will speak at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens' semiconductor conference tomorrow and Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco. This year's meeting is likely to be gloomy. Many chip companies reported disappointing earnings in the second quarter, hurt by falling prices and weak demand in Asia, once one of the fastest-growing markets for semiconductors that power everything from personal computers to cellular phones and microwave ovens. ''This was probably the worst quarter since 1990,'' said Fred Zieber, an analyst at Pathfinder Research in San Jose, California, who plans to attend the conference. ''The companies will dodge the financials and talk about new products.'' That could be the case for Jerry Sanders, chairman and chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. His company this month reported a larger-than-expected loss in the second quarter as the average price for its flagship K6 microprocessor fell. AMD -- Intel's largest rival in the market for chips that go into personal computers -- lost $64.6 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with a profit of $9.97 million, or 7 cents, in the year-earlier period. Analysts expected the company to lose 20 cents a share, according to First Call Corp. Sales fell 11 percent to $526 million from $594 million. Though AMD shipped a larger-than-expected 2.7 million of its K6 chips in the second quarter, the average price paid for the chips fell 20 percent compared with the first quarter as AMD tried to undercut industry leader Intel to win new customers. Intel itself is cutting prices more rapidly to boost its own sales. Sanders is scheduled to give the luncheon speech at the Robertson Stephens conference tomorrow. AMD shares have fallen 40 percent in the last three months. Battered technology investors got a reprieve two weeks ago, when Intel said in its second-quarter earnings report that it expected revenue to be little changed to slightly better in the third quarter compared with the second. Coming from a company known for being cautious in its predictions, the one-sentence forecast spurred speculation that the worst may be over for Intel and other chipmakers. Intel shares have risen 6.1 percent since July 14, when the Santa Clara, California-based company delivered the forecast. Tech investors are nothing if not optimistic.