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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (19450)	9/9/1998 7:20:00 PM
From: Ginko	Respond to of 25960

I wrote: When will A&A step up to the plate and start buying for their own account? You responded: Probably around the same time Andy Grove, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell start buying shares of their companies on the open market. Think about it. Robert - Last count of shares owned and percent ownership are as follows - - Grove (80 / nil) - Gates (551,633,542 / 3.5%) - Dell (100,410,552 / 10.3%) biz.yahoo.com biz.yahoo.com biz.yahoo.com Selling shares for reasons mentioned previously makes economic sense as opposed to adding to their positions at such a premium. Conversely, CYMI shares owned and percentage of ownership are as follows: - Angus (377,613 / 1.4%) - Akins (25,599 / nil) biz.yahoo.com biz.yahoo.com If positive business prospects were imminent coupled with the annihilation of its stock price, would you not think that management might send a signal to the street by purchasing "some" shares at these perceived depressed price levels? Case in point, last September, Rational Software (RATL) took a pounding by the street for missing analyst estimates due to merger costs. In October, CEO Paul Levy personally committed over $3MM of his own dollars by going into the open market and buying shares for his personal account: biz.yahoo.com It had been over a double until the recent meltdown, but still up over 80% from its lows. My point is simply that with CYMI at all time lows, insider buying and not selling would be a stronger indicator of better (v. worse) times ahead. Insiders usually sell at the top anyway, as is evidenced by the bogus lawsuit recently filed. Think about that ... <G>

To: FJB who wrote (19450)	9/9/1998 7:26:00 PM
From: Bill Hermesmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Robert, your posts are the most valuable of anyone on this thread but this isn't a logical comparison, considering the differences in the fortunes of the companies involved and the price performance of the stocks. It is certainly a positive sign to see lesser executives (who may actually need the money for homes, tuition, etc.) to buy the stock of their company. If I am being naive and you are simply saying that a chairman or president buying the stock means absolutely zilch then you are right on.

To: FJB who wrote (19450)	9/10/1998 9:42:00 AM
From: Justa Werkenstiff	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25960

Bob: ASMLF with some CYMI related news: ASML Introduces Industry's First Wide-Field, 193 nm Step & Scan System Enabling Next Step On the SIA Technology Roadmap VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1998-- New PAS 5500/900, Developed by ASML with Key Contributions by Carl Zeiss, to be Installed at IMEC in Q1 99 Building upon the success of its PAS 5500 series of Step & Scan lithography tools, ASML (ASM Lithography) has unveiled the semiconductor industry's first wide-field, 193 nm Step & Scan system, the PAS 5500/900. On target for developing next-generation processes for linewidths from 150 nm down to 130 nm, the new PAS 5500/900 meets the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) Technology Roadmap's timeline for qualification and pre-production of advanced 1-gigabit to 4-gigabit DRAMs and gigahertz-speed logic devices. The new 193 nm Step & Scan tool is built upon ASML's production-proven PAS 5500 system architecture and uses the company's reliable, high-speed Step & Scan stages. A key difference from ASML's established 248 nm PAS 5500/500 Step & Scan product is the use of Carl Zeiss' new Starlith(TM) 900 lens with calcium fluoride (CaF2) elements for partial achromatization. Also critical in achieving 150 nm resolution is an argon fluoride (ArF) laser source and the AERIAL II(TM) illuminator with high-transmission CaF2 and aspherical optical elements from Carl Zeiss. "The PAS 5500/900 is targeted to meet the requirements projected in the SIA Technology Roadmap for the 1-gigabit DRAM using 150 nm processes and for development of the 4-gigabit DRAM using 130 nm processes," said Dr. Richard George, ASML's director of Step & Scan marketing. "In achieving these demanding resolutions, 193 nm lithography uses cost-saving binary photomasks, unlike 248 nm technology which requires expensive phase shifting photomasks. "The first series of PAS 5500/900 machines will be installed at customer facilities throughout the world within the next 12 months," Dr. George added. "Today's debut of this critical functional tool set and its process solutions, just in time for industry development activities, is the product of several years of intense R&D in 193 nm technology by ASML and its network of high-technology partners." The PAS 5500/900 incorporates major technology breakthroughs in several critical areas. To produce the PAS 5500/900 optics, Carl Zeiss' expertise in CaF2 lens production was extended to meet volume manufacturing demands for 193 nm projection lenses. New coating technologies and polishing methods had to be developed to handle the crystalline structure of CaF2. Fully automated polishing systems produce the required surface accuracies of the quartz and CaF2 elements. With its very large working distance from the final lens element to the photoresist's surface, the refractive optics design avoids lens contamination caused by outgassing from 193 nm photoresists during exposure. Compared to catadioptric lens design, where the lens is situated much closer to the photoresist, refractive lenses ensure increased uptime and productivity. Developing the PAS 5500/900 optics also required advances in the manufacturing capabilities of the principal materials suppliers. Critical CaF2 homogeneity and purity specifications and required low levels of strain birefringence are manufacturing challenges being met by Schott and Bicron. For 193 nm-compatible quartz, Carl Zeiss enlisted the expertise of Heraeus and Corning. Utilizing the resulting Starlith 900 lens with a numerical aperture (NA) adjustable from 0.45 to greater than 0.6, the PAS 5500/900 produces a field size of 26 x 33 mm. Creating reliable ArF laser sources with lens bandwidths of 0.7 picometer and power specifications of 5 watts at 1,000 Hz was another vital need. This expertise was developed in parallel by Cymer and Lambda Physik, both of whom supply ArF lasers for the PAS 5500/900 system. With the scheduled delivery of ASML's PAS 5500/900 to IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, during the first quarter of 1999, work will intensify on 193 nm-compatible photoresists and development of an overall, 193 nm lithography process for 130 nm/120 nm CMOS devices. These pioneering activities will be carried out in conjunction with the affiliate partners in IMEC's 193 nm program. The PAS 5500/900 system has a list price of NLG 20 million ($10 million). ASM Lithography is a world leader in photolithography equipment with an installed base of more than 1,000 systems at customer sites around the world. The company, which had 1997 revenues of NLG 1,803 million ($889 million), is recognized by Dataquest as the no. 2 supplier of steppers in the world and was the highest ranked lithography company in VLSI Research Inc.'s annual customer satisfaction survey for 1998. ASML is headquartered in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, with a U.S. operations center in Tempe, Ariz., and regional sales and service facilities in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore.