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Technology Stocks : Ultratech Stepper -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (3115)	4/2/1999 10:43:00 PM
From: Alan Bell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3696

Cary, Thanks for your interesting points. And it very well might be that the cash and book value set a current bottom. Your point about Utek working to become a leading edge niche player raises a concern that you may be able to address. I know (through a close friend) how difficult it is for a (small) semi cap equipment manufacturer to move into a new market. Even with a technologically superior product, it is hard to overcome past buyer-supplier relationships. It takes years to slowly get the fab wins to gain credibility for a new tool. P-GILD will not be out soon enough to be part of Intel's upcoming new 300mm fabs. Given Intel's identical fab policy, Intel would not be looking to change/add equipment vendors until their next major fab build. Utek would lose this potential revenue and the credibility of being adopted by Intel. So even if UTEK can get the technology right, what makes you think they can ramp up industry acceptance quickly? -- Alan (Again, this is being posted to understand the issues, not to knock Utek.)