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To: Don Green who wrote (21408)	6/1/1999 11:50:00 PM
From: MileHigh	Respond to of 93625

Tuesday June 1, 11:08 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-Samsung Elec raises investment in DRAMs SEOUL, June 2 (Reuters) - The world's largest dynamic random access memory (DRAM) maker Samsung Electronics Co said on Wednesday it has raised by nearly 50 percent this year's facilities investment to prepare for future market changes. The South Korean chipmaker would now spend 3.7 trillion won ($3.12 billion) this year on production facilities mainly for 256-megabit DRAMs, 1.2 trillion won more than earlier planned, a company spokesman said. The world market for the next-generation DRAM chips has yet to open and the increased investment was aimed at securing a leading position in the future, Samsung's James Chung said. ''Our facilities investment in the DRAM sector will mostly be focused on production facilities for 256-megabit DRAMs,'' Chung said. ''We expect mass-production of the 256-megabit DRAMs will start in around 2001.'' But he said the investment was not intended to expand production capacity for existing memory chips and that some of the money would be used to upgrade production facilities for other products including telecommunications equipment. Currently 64-megabit products are the mainstay in the world DRAM market, although lower-capacity DRAMs are also in use. Along with central process units or CPU chips, DRAM chips form the brain for personal computers. Chung said the increased investment plan was also aimed at upgrading production facilities for the thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) or flat display panels, telecommunications equipment and digital television. However, the world's largest DRAM maker has decided to leave unchanged its spending plan for research and development activities at 1.6 trillion won, he said. He said the company would not have any problems in securing funds because it already plans to offer a rights issue in June on the local stock market. He was referring to Samsung's plan, announced in April, to offer an 8-for-10 rights issue in June. Subscription is set for June 22 and 23. The flagship unit of the Samsung Group [SAGR.CN] posted 313.2 billion won in net profit in calendar 1998, compared with 123.5 billion won profit in the previous year. The company announced earlier this month that its sales in the first quarter of this year totalled some six trillion won. It did not give comparable figures for last year. It also has raised its sales target for all of this year to 22.3 trillion won from the previous 21.2 trillion won, compared with last year's 20.08 trillion won. Samsung shares were trading at 89,600 won in mid-morning, up 4,300 won. ($1=1,186 won)