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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (28841)	3/4/1999 11:25:00 AM
From: Duker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Texas Instruments sees modest semiconductor growth [Not terribly "newsworthy" ... but worth a look. --Duker] DALLAS, March 4 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - news) continues to expect moderate revenue growth in its semiconductor business, which accounted for about 60 percent of sales last year, Chief Financial Officer Bill Aylesworth said on Thursday. ''We still expect modest revenue growth in the first quarter in the semiconductor business...We continue to expect modest semiconductor growth for the year,'' he told Texas Instruments' annual conference for industry analysts. Aylesworth said the semiconductor business accounted for about 60 percent of 1998 revenues totaling $8.5 billion. He said the figure had been adjusted to exclude the company's memory chip business, which was sold last year. ''The bottom line is that there is no change in what has been our outlook for the first quarter,'' he said about prospects for revenue growth in semiconductors. The company's shares rose 3 in early morning trading to 94-15/16 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has a 12-month high of 104-7/8 and a 12-month low of 45-3/8.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (28841)	3/4/1999 4:42:00 PM
From: Duker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

This little "toy fab" is a pretty serious piece of work from a technology standpoint .... .18M with 10k wafers per month ... --Duker A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 11:15 a.m. EST/8:15 a.m. PST, 3/4/99 Toshiba to co-develop 128-bit CPU for Sony PlayStation-II TOKYO -- Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have formed a joint venture to produce the new 128-bit CPU for the next-generation Sony PlayStation-II electronic game machine. The new venture will set up 8-inch wafer production lines within an existing Toshiba fab at Oita, Japan. The companies said today that the line will use 0.18-micron design-rule technology. Mass production will start this fall, with a capacity of 10,000 wafers a month. Sony unveiled the PlayStation-II this week, listing LSI Logic Inc. as supplier for the single-chip I/O processor (see March 2 story). The game player will also use Direct Rambus DRAM memory.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (28841)	3/4/1999 4:49:00 PM
From: Duker	Respond to of 70976

Merrill Lynch Raises ASML Intermediate Term To "BUY" [From the article: They said the orders "may indicate a shift in profitability back to the semiconductor sector, as capacity excesses may have been worked out of the system." Was this from Mr. Fitzgerald? ... One of the early bears in the sector (and right he was sometime back). Just some more noise for the thread. --Duker] Dow Jones Newswires -- March 4, 1999 AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)--Merrill Lynch analysts upgraded their intermediate-term recommendation for shares in Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM Lithography Holding (ASML) to buy Thursday, forecasting that the company will turn a profit in the first half of 1999. ASML said when it released full-year earnings in January that it expects the first half of 1999 to be "the same" as the second half of 1998, when it posted a marginal net loss of NLG3 million (EUR1=NLG2.20371). In a report, Merrill Lynch analysts said that ASML's third major order so far this year, an order from Hyundai Semiconductor America announced Wednesday, "should seal a return to profitability in the first half of 1999." They said the orders "may indicate a shift in profitability back to the semiconductor sector, as capacity excesses may have been worked out of the system." The analysts set a 12-month price target of EUR52 for the share, and said that a recent price correction "is a buying opportunity." At 1248 GMT ASML was down 5 cents, or 0.1%, at EUR36.00. Merrill Lynch's previous intermediate recommendation for ASML was accumulate. The long-term recommendation remains unchanged at buy.