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To: Norrin Radd who wrote (3986)	9/18/1998 12:53:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9582

Micron Tech Raises Memory Chip Prices as Demand Rises Bloomberg News September 18, 1998, 9:25 a.m. PT Micron Tech Raises Memory Chip Prices as Demand Rises (Update1) Boise, Idaho, Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Micron Technology Inc. said it has raised prices for memory chips to top personal computer makers as demand picked up and supply has tightened. The top U.S. maker of computer memory processors said contract prices for 64-megabit memory, which are long-term agreements with top personal computer makers, have risen to more than $8 from $7.60 just a few weeks ago. ''We were able to pass through some price increases to the tier one accounts,'' said Kipp Bedard, a spokesman for Micron, in a presentation at the NationsBanc Montgomery Securities Conference in San Francisco. He said contract pricing has been unchanged since July. Tier one accounts are the top PC makers such as Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. Memory prices have been plummeting as PC makers slowed orders earlier this year. Now that excess inventory has been whittled down demand has picked up again, which has resulted in higher spot prices for memory in the past few months. Spot prices refer to prices to buy memory without a long-term contract. Shares of Boise, Idaho-based Micron rose 1 3/16 to 29 9/16 in midday trading. Earlier, shares traded as high as 30 1/16. Bedard also said Micron's top customers, who made each computer with an average of 34 MB of memory through most of this year, expect that to rise to 78 by the end of the year and expect to ship an average of 96 MB of memory per computer in 1999. Module Business Micron also is interested in getting more involved in the so- called memory module business, which are the complete systems with memory chips installed on circuit boards that can be installed into a computer to upgrade its memory. Micron said it expects to make more announcements that it will take over some of the memory module business at some PC makers. That means when a customer calls a PC maker to upgrade the memory on a computer, they will be referred to Micron. Memory modules carry higher profit margins, and Bedard said it makes sense for Micron to get more involved in that business. ''Our goal is to work up the food chain a bit and take some of that margin usually given up,'' Bedard said.