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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (24705)	9/29/1998 7:19:00 AM
From: Duker	Respond to of 70976

Philips To Build New Chip Plant With TSMC, EDB Investments AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)--Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHG) said Tuesday its new chip production site will be constructed with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSC) and EDB Investments. Philips revealed its plans to build the new site with a partner in Asia in January, but didn't specify who that partner would be. In a news release, Philips said the new site will be set up through a joint venture at Singapore's Pasir Ris Wafer Fabrication Park and that total investments will be about $1.2 billion. Construction will start early next year, while the facility will open in the second half of 2000, it said. Philips will be the major shareholder with a 48% stake in the joint venture. Commenting on the plans, the head of Philips' semiconductors division, Arthur van der Poel, said "timing is critical with a major investment like this....Our projections show that by the time this new facility comes on stream, late in the year 2000, the market for logic chips will be strong." Despite market doubts that this is the right time to be investing in chip manufacturing, Van Der Poel added that "the joint venture is a carefully thought-out investment in the future of Philips semiconductors, one of the key profit centers of the Philips group." According to the Amsterdam-based Philips, TSMC will take a 32% holding in the joint venture. The companies will be able to use a respective 60% and 40% of the production facility's capacity. EDB Investments of Singapore will take the remaining 20% share of the venture, while each of the three companies will be represented in the management board. Philips holds a 27.6% stake in TSMC. -By Anthony Deutsch: 31-20-626-0770; adeutsch@ap.org Royal Philips Electronics NV is Europe's largest consumer electronics group, producing a range of products from television and stereo equipment to semiconductors. It is also the world's largest manufacturer of light bulbs. Headquarters: Rembrandt Tower, Amstelplein 1, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Significant developments: In September, Philips said it will sell its non-ceramic passive components activities to U.K. company Compass Partners International for an undisclosed sum. Also in September, Philips issued a profit warning saying it expects 1998 profit to be flat from 1997. In August, Philips said its PCC consumer communications JV with Lucent Technologies in the U.S. isn't expected to break even in 1998. Philips also said the president and chief executive officer of PCC, Mike McTighe, will give up his post October 1. His duties will be taken over by the unit's chief operating officer, Thorn Swartsenburg. In July 1998, Philips said it would buy U.S. company ATL Ultrasound for $800 million. In June, Philips said it will sell its 75% in PolyGram to Canada's Seagram in a deal which is expected to generate a net gain of about NLG12-13 billion in 1998. All figures are rounded and in guilders. Numbers in parentheses are losses. 6 Mos To 6 Mos To Year To Year To 06/30/98 06/30/97 12/31/97 12/31/96Income From Normal Ops 1.57 bln 1.15 bln 3.29 bln 723 mlnExtra Gains 1.02 bln 481 mln 2.44 bln (1.31 bln)Net Pft 2.59 bln 1.63 bln 5.73 bln a (590 mln)Sales 35.76 bln 33.39 bln 76.45 bln 69.2 blnEPS -b 4.37 3.31 9.42 2.11Dividend .... .... 2.00 1.60 a. 1996 net profit and EPS include one-time costs of NLG2.57 billion. b. EPS based on income from normal business operations. Currency history (guilder vs dollar) 06/30/98 06/30/97 12/31/97 12/31/96Fixing 2.0373 1.9641 2.0157 1.7471