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Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7525)	1/9/1999 3:08:00 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

Dennis, there are still internet plays out there going at PSR smaller than 1. Hey, some even have profits and book value. But really, just very few of these. Zeev

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7525)	1/13/1999 5:03:00 PM
From: D. K. G.	Respond to of 10921

Taiwan remains the wild card in chip capacity investments A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 8 a.m. EST/5 a.m., PST, 1/13/99 semibiznews.com By J. Robert Lineback PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- In the forecasts for semiconductor capital spending, Taiwan remains the big question market in 1999. The country's aggressive silicon foundries and want-to-be DRAM suppliers have become the major wildcards in how much new capacity ends is added to the world's supply at a time when the industry is still attempting to work off a severe production glut. Worldwide investments in new chip-processing fabs are expected to be flat with last year's levels, which were down nearly 25% from 1997. But at the annual Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) here this week, analysts and executives continued to liken Taiwan's semiconductor landscape as the "wild West of the Far East." "The Taiwan foundries will probably be the first to increase investments, and they won't wait like other semiconductor companies," said analyst Bill McClean, president of IC Insights Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. Most other analyst agree because many of the world's chip houses are looking to increase their use of pure-play foundries in the 1999 recovery instead of immediately building new fabs. A growing number of major fab-operating IC suppliers are also mapping out long-term strategies to use foundries well into the next decade. With Taiwan being the pure-play foundry capital of the world, most industry observers believe this trend will pump more investments into the island nation. But the foundries are still faced with an oversupply of capacity. What was expected to be a 15-20% foundry glut in 1998 quickly increased to 30-35% by the end of the year as many memory houses and start-ups in Taiwan shifted their business models to more profitable contract manufacturing, said Dataquest analyst Clark J. Fuhs, vice president and director of the research firm's Semiconductor Manufacturing analysis Group in San Jose. The excess in foundry capacity will last until late 1999, predicted Fuhs, who believes Taiwan's capital spending on new chip production facilities will be 20% lower this year compared to 1998. But not all analysts agree. Taiwan's semiconductor equipment market is set to grow again after falling 16.0% to $4.2 billion in 1998 from $5.0 billion in 1997, said analyst G. Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research Inc. of San Jose. In 1999, Hutcheson expects capital spending in Taiwan to show the strongest increase in the world, rising 7.1% to $4.5 billion. In contrast, capital spending on new chip capacity in the U.S. will grow just 1.1% to $9.6 billion in 1999, and it will increase 2.9% to $3.5 billion in Europe, according to Hutcheson. Semiconductor capital spending in Japan is expected to be flat in 1999 at $5.5 billion. Japan's market plunged 38.2% in 1998 from $8.9 billion in 1997, based on VLSI Research estimates. In South Korea, semiconductor capital spending is expected to drop 7.1% to $1.3 billion in 1999 vs. $1.4 billion in 1998--the year investments fell 57.6% in connection with the country's economic meltdown. Taiwan's chip makers are extremely aggressive in their willingness to invest compared to other cautious semiconductor companies worldwide. IC Insight's McClean estimated that Taiwan's UMC Group invested 133% of its sales in new capacity during 1998--or a total of $1 billion. UMC, the world's second largest pure-play foundry, did cut back slightly from 1997, spending about 7% less than it did in 1997, McClean said. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC)--the industry's biggest pure-play foundry--spent 58% of its sales on capacity in 1999, or about $920 million, which was a drop of 33% from 1997, according to McClean. Only U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. topped TSMC in spending as a percent of sales at 64%, or $900 million, in 1998, based on estimates by IC Insights. While the rest of the world's semiconductor capital markets remain in a holding pattern as chip makers assess the 1999 recovery, Taiwan is still "hot--bring beach towels," quipped analyst Hutcheson, during his presentation before chip-equipment executives at the ISS meeting. :::::: Thanks to BillyG on Cymer thread for posting this, DKG