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

To: Rob-Chemist who wrote (30772)	6/1/1999 1:41:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Japan's Desktop PC Sales Brisk in First Week of May May 31, 1999 (TOKYO) -- While Japan's sales of PC notebook models decreased in both units and value in the first week of May, sales of desktop models increased briskly in both units and value. Japan's PC sales in the first week of May 1999 (May 3-9) at about 2,000 retailers of electric appliances decreased by 2.1 percent from the previous week on a quantity basis and decreased by 3.0 percent in value, according to a survey conducted by Gfk Japan Ltd., an information service company dealing with POS data of 55 household electrical appliances retail stores. When compared to the same week a year ago (May 4-10, 1998), increases were 89.4 percent in units and 86.8 percent in value. The average sales price decreased by 2,133 yen to 21,814 yen from a week-ago level at 221,947 yen. (122.29 yen = US$1) The week-on-week decrease observed in the first week is smaller than a year-ago level. In both units and value, the said week's sales becomes 1.9 times as the same week a year ago. Sales of desktop models increased in both units and value due to the average sales price's decrease by 1,605 yen. The average sales price among notebook models increased by 479 yen. GfK Japan collects POS data from 55 IT-related retail sales companies centering on high-volume stores specializing in home electric appliances. It covers about 3,200 stores (as of April 1998) throughout Japan. In cooperation with Gfk Japan, Nikkei Market Access provides weekly reports of PC sales in volume and value. The sales data has been based on the same 41 companies (with about 2,000 stores) since April 1996. The number of PCs sold at the 2,000 stores is estimated to comprise about 10 percent of gross domestic shipments, and when limiting the sales to retail sales channel, the share comes to about 25 percent of such shipments. nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com

To: Rob-Chemist who wrote (30772)	6/1/1999 2:01:00 PM
From: FLSTF97	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

I think the Obsidian purchase is good for AMAT; it should cement their position in CMP. The technology is unique and not at all like the TERES machine. The key element is that the system can be slurryless. It uses a ribbon of abrasive material that is incremented with each wafer pass. The Lam system is a belt that keeps revolving. Supposedly the Obsidian system provides very stabile process results and cost advantages.