[Search for users]
[Overall Top Noters]
[List of all Conferences]
[Download this site]
| Title: | Europe-Swas-Artificial-Intelligence |
|
| Moderator: | HERON::BUCHANAN |
|
| Created: | Fri Jun 03 1988 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Aug 04 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 442 |
| Total number of notes: | 1429 |
386.0. "FWD: You may want to subscrib" by MR4DEC::ROACH (TANSTAAFL !) Tue Oct 29 1991 23:27
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 29-Oct-1991 05:25pm EST
From: Patrick Roach @MRO
ROACH.PATRICK
Dept: AI Technology Center
Tel No:
TO: See Below
Subject: FWD: You may want to subscrib
Distribution:
TO: Remote Addressee ( Ahuja @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Buffo @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Comella @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Derrico @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Dilorenzo @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Holland @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Huckins @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Lee @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Lipka @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( McCormack @lmoadm @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Molino @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Sharpe @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Sian @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Welch @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( YLee @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Bowden @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( CGormley @bodach @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( GHicks @bodach @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( JDuggan @bodach @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( JHarhen @bodach @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( JLenihan @bodach @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Patil @aidev @vaxmail )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Shivnan @aidev @vaxmail )
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 29-Oct-1991 12:33pm EST
From: BEANE
BEANE@SHLACT@SELECT@MRGATE@NRGATE@NRO
Dept:
Tel No:
TO: PATRICK ROACH@LMO
Subject: FWD: Dataquest weekly news summary
From: HSOMAI::RDVAX::MACHEFSKY "EXTERNAL RESEARCH PROGRAM, WEST COAST
415-723-4339 29-Oct-1991 0023" 29-OCT-1991 01:33:00.52
To: @SUN
CC:
Subj: Dataquest weekly news summary
Attached is a new weekly newsletter from Dataquest, distributed by the DEC
Hudson Information Center. It is one of the best electronic newsletters I
read, and I recommend it highly to you. In addition to well written summaries
of weekly technology news, DQ throws in some trenchant thumbnail analyses of
each news piece. You can subscribe by sending mail to SHARE::LIBRARY.
The agreement with DQ restricts redistribution, so you won't see me forwarding
any more. HIGHLY RECOMENDED.
===============================================================================
From: SHARE::LIBRARY "28-Oct-1991 1139" 28-OCT-1991 12:00:05.82
To: @DQ_MONDAY
CC:
Subj: DQ Monday Report - October 28, 1991
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ NOTE: The Dataquest Monday Newsletter is a copyrighted Dataquest publication./
/ Through an agreement with Dataquest the Hudson Information Center may /
/ distribute this information within Digital. If you wish to receive a /
/ copy of the newsletter, please send your name and node to /
/ SHARE::LIBRARY. /
/ DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY /
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
DQ MONDAY REPORT
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
October 28, 1991
MARKET INTELLIGENCE OCTOBER 28, 1991
1 Economic Weather Report 11 Financial Results From Selected Companies
2 Mosel/Vitelic 12 People In The Industry...
3 Sony 13 DQ Perspective
4 Hitachi
5 Conner Peripherals
6 COMDEX
7 PSI Integration
8 Varian
9 Compaq Computer
10 In The News...
1 ECONOMIC WEATHER REPORT
Housing starts tumbled 2.2% in September, from an annual rate of 1.05 million in
August to an annual rate of 1.03 million. The National Council of Community
Bankers believe that the drop is well within an acceptable noise level. On the
positive side, there was a 2.7% increase in residential building permits for the
month, which is running at an annual rate of 979,000.
September durable goods orders fell 3.2%, however, when the defense category is
removed durable goods shows an increase of 1.1% over August. Inventory is still
declining, but at a slower rate--$500 million versus the $2.6 billion a month
between January and June.
DQ TAKE
The following items represent industry events which occurred during the
week of October 21 - 25, 1991. The analysis provided is generated by
Dataquest's Worldwide staff of industry analysts.
2 MOSEL/VITELIC PLAN MERGER
MOS Electronics Taiwan Inc. (Mosel) and Vitelic Corp. announced the two firms
have agreed to merge. Both are private companies, and the combined revenue base
is expected to exceed $150 million. Mosel, founded in 1983, offers high speed
SRAMs, latch RAMs, 386/486 chipsets and Voice ROMs. Vitelic, also founded in
1983, provides high speed DRAMs (1 and 4 megabit), Video RAMs and specialty DRAM
and SRAM products. The transaction is a stock-for-stock exchange, in which
Vitelic shareholders will receive Mosel shares. The merger is expected to be
completed by the end of the year, subject to regulatory and shareholder
approval.
DQ TAKE This is probably a good merger for both firms: Mosel has
sufficient cash, but no fab. Vitelic has a fab under construction,
technology, a marketing organization, but no cash. Their product lines
are similar, but with little overlap. It appears that both companies hope
to achieve by merger a critical mass sufficient to become a strong market
leader. With Mosel money, Vitelic can complete the fab in Taiwan that was
started and subsequently placed on hold. The organization hopes to be
processing wafers by the fourth quarter 1992, and in full production early
in 1993. (SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY SERVICE)
3 SONY OFFERS SMALL, LOW POWER A/D CONVERTER
A high-resolution video converter chipset is now available from the
semiconductor products division of Sony Components. The CXA 1496Q A/D Converter
offers 10 bit resolution at a 20Mhz conversion rate. The companion CXA 1693Q
provides the sample/hold and buffering function for the ADC. Both products are
fabricated in bipolar ECL (Sony's ECL-2 process) but have TTL compatible
outputs. The price for the set is $105 at the 100 piece level.
DQ TAKE The market for precision imaging and high frequency signal
processing continues to grow strongly. These ICs offer relatively high
resolution at a decent conversion rate with the benefit of low power
consumption (300 mW) with +- 5V supplies. The low power consumption made
possible by the sub-ranging converter technique, along with the small quad
flat pack configuration makes these ICs attractive for portable signal
processing, video equipment, medical equipment and other portable and
remote instrumentation applications. These products show that bipolar
data converters are still competitive. (SEMICONDUCTOR ANALOG SERVICE)
4 HITACHI INTRODUCES 5.25-INCH SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE
Hitachi America introduced a 5.25-inch semiconductor storage device (SSD)
using 4 megabit DRAM technology as an alternative to mass storage option. The
SSDs have a 5.25-inch form factor. Access time is 0.35 milliseconds with a
maximum SCSI bus transfer rate of 4 megabytes per second. The SSD is available
in 32 megabyte or 64 megabyte storage card versions, however, both can be
expanded to 160 megabytes or 320 megabytes, respectively. Optional
battery-powered back-up hard drives are offered to safeguard against power
outages. Mean time between failure is 100,000 hours. The prices for base units
are $9,200 for the 32 MB unit and $16,350 for the 64 MB unit.
DQ TAKE This is an interesting product for it points to a possible trend
for high performance systems. Hard disks are beginning to have a
difficult time keeping up with high performance systems, such as
workstations. A product like the SSD will allow substantial performance
improvements. We think SSD-type products may be at the edge of a trend
that could replace hard disk drives as a secondary storage device in high
performance systems. (SEMICONDUCTOR APPLICATION SERVICE)
5 CONNER 2.5-INCH DISK FEATURES DUAL ACTUATORS.
Conner Peripherals Inc. announced the development of a dual actuator OEM
storage device, optimized for high input/output demand, such as is needed in
transaction intensive computing environments. Designated the Chinook Series,
the device has actuators located 180 degrees from each other. They respond
independently to data requests through separate data paths. Each data path
contains an independent channel, buffer controller and sequencer. The new
technique cuts latency time to 6.7 ms and seek time to 3 ms. SCSI-2 tagged
command queuing and simultaneous servicing of multiple disk request is also used
to increase throughput.
DQ TAKE The new Conner dual actuator storage device will certainly
increase performance, but also it will have significant cost penalties.
Incorporating two actuators duplicates all of the actuator circuitry. If
a computer buyer was considering a system for a heavy transaction
application that needed a high I/O performance mass storage device, a
price/performance comparison should be made between this type of product
and a solid state product. (SEMICONDUCTOR APPLICATION SERVICE)
6 COMDEX GROWS TO MILES OF EXHIBITS
There were 1,850 exhibiting companies at "COMDEX/Fall '91", and it drew more
than 125,000 persons from 100 countries. But as COMDEX has grown into a
mega-show, Dataquest thinks the percentage of actual new products shown has
decreased. On a physical scale, the show encompasses 2.2 million square
feet--or allowing for 10-foot deep booths this is 42 miles of booth space. But
Dataquest estimates that only 2 miles actually contained new products. The new
items at COMDEX were:
* Pen-based systems and software, demonstrating how the age-old use of a
stylus can be more productive for common applications, such as forms-based
entry.
* A new generation of notebook computers were also out, including 38 units
based on the Intel 386SL plus the new PowerBook series from Apple.
* The latest operating systems were being demonstrated, including OS/2 by
IBM and NT Windows by Microsoft.
* There was a multimedia pavilion at the Bally Hotel, dominated by IBM and
Intel, showing today's technologies for tomorrow's applications.
Demonstrations included live video and audio products in analog and
digital formats on every platform. (SEMICONDUCTOR MICRO COMPONENT SERVICE)
7 PSI SHIPS RAM CARDS AND FAX/MODEM FOR NEW APPLE NOTEBOOKS
PSI Integration Inc. is shipping expandable RAM cards and an internal
send/receive fax/data modem for Apple's new Macintosh PowerBook notebook PCs.
The expansion memory cards, available in several configurations, enables
computer users to increase the memory to 8 megabytes. Designed specifically for
the PowerBook, the fax/data modem is a Hayes-compatible, 9600 bps fax/2400 bps
data modem.
DQ TAKE Dataquest believes that the addition of internal fax/modem
chipsets to portable notebook PCs is the latest attempt by PC
manufacturers to add value and to differentiate themselves in an otherwise
commodity market. Dataquest observes many mixed-signal ASSP companies
targeting the integrated fax/modem chipset market for the high growth
notebook PC arena. (SEMICONDUCTOR APPLICATIONS SERVICE)
8 VARIAN MAY SELL VACUUM PRODUCTS OPERATION
Varian Associates announced it is discussing with interested parties the
possibility of selling the vacuum products operation that makes pumps and other
hardware for manufacturing processes.
DQ TAKE This is further evidence that Varian is focusing its business in
two core areas, the sputtering equipment business and the ion implant
equipment business. The company has a leading market position in both
these areas. Varian previously had sold its MOCVD/MBE equipment
operations and its magnetic disk sputtering business. Dataquest believes
that more and more companies will need to focus resources and energy on
core business to retain competitive market positions. (SEMICONDUCTOR
EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS, AND MANUFACTURING SERVICE)
9 COMPAQ BOARD REPLACES FOUNDER ROD CANION
The Board of Directors of Compaq Computer Corp. announced that it has elected
Echard Pfeiffer President and CEO of the Corporation and a member of the Board
of Directors, replacing co-founder Joseph R. (Rod) Canion. The action was taken
at the regularly scheduled Board of Directors Meeting on Thursday, October 24,
1991. Mr. Pfeiffer joined Compaq in 1983 as Vice President of Compaq Europe and
has served in a variety of management positions before being made the company's
Executive Vice President and COO. In 1990 the company reported $3.6 billion in
worldwide sales.
10 IN THE NEWS . . .
COMPAQ RESTRUCTURES, CUTS JOBS 12%. Compaq reports a $70 million loss for the
quarter due to restructure.
IN FOCUS TERMINATES LCD LICENSE WITH COMPAQ. In Focus Systems has developed
Triple Super-Twist Nneumatic (TM) color LCD technology for portable computers.
According to In Focus, Compaq had difficulty developing a backlight that met its
requirements.
IBM SUES COMDISCO FOR USING COUNTERFEIT PARTS. IBM filed suit against Comdisco
Inc. for allegedly producing COUNTERFEIT parts for IBM mainframe computers and
selling them as genuine IBM-manufactured parts. Comdisco responded that it is
investigating the charges, but that problems perceived by IBM should have been
solved through negotiation rather than legal action.
KLA SELLS PCB AOI PRODUCT LINE TO ONO SOKKI OF JAPAN. The purchase price for
the automated optical inspection (AOI) business is $4.3 million plus undisclosed
royalties.
APPLE UNVEILS NEW LINE OF MACINTOSH "POWERBOOK" NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS. The
three-member family--PowerBook 100, PowerBook 140, and PowerBook 170--are
powered with the Motorola 68000, and 68030 microprocessors. The base weight is
from 5.1 pounds to 6.8 pounds.
CONNER INTRODUCES 120-MBYTE, 2.5-INCH DRIVE. The drive has an average access
time of less than 17 ms, is housed in a .75-inch high package, and operates on a
single +5 volts.
AT&T OFFERS MASK-PROGRAMMABLE CMOS GATE ARRAYS. A family of 1-micron, CMOS,
silicon-gate, double or triple metal technology gate arrays is now available
from AT&t. The gate arrays are compatible with NEC's CMOS6/6A family of gate
arrays.
100-MIPS/DSP PROCESSOR DRIVES LASER PRINTER AT 17 PPM. National Semiconductor
demonstrates Swordfish microprocessor on VECTOR evaluation/development board.
LSI LOGIC INTRODUCES MIPS-BASED RISC PROCESSOR with integrated graphics
capability for X Window terminals. The chip is based upon the LR33000
self-embedding MIPS processor.
WEITEK OFFERS WINDOWS ADAPTER CARD FOR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS. It increases the
on-screen speed of business application text scrolling, cutting and pasting,
page preview, spreadsheet navigation, typing, moving, and re-sizing windows.
IBM SUES SEAGATE AND FORMER EMPLOYEE OVER TRADE SECRETS. The suit is over
magneto resistive technology.
ORBIT SEMICONDUCTOR MANAGERS TO BUY COMPANY. Gary Kennedy, President of Orbit
Semiconductor Inc., announced that he and two other executives have reached an
agreement with parent company Orbit International to purchase the semiconductor
subsidiary.
MONITERM CUTS WORKFORCE. Moniterm Corp., a monitor and display manufacturer,
has cut its workforce by 29 due to lower sales.
UNITRODE EXPECTS THIRD QUARTER OPERATING LOSS. Weak market conditions resulted
in lower than expected revenue, reports Unitrode.
BEZIER LASER PRINTER USES NATIONAL INTEGRATED SYSTEM PROCESSOR.
BROOKTROUT/NATIONAL PARTNER ON VOICE/FAX PORT CARD.
SILICON SYSTEMS OFFERS 16-CHANNEL READ/WRITE IC.
VERILOG INTRODUCES GRAPHICS-BASED CASE TOOLS FOR ADA.
MICROSTAR INTRODUCES 16-CHANNEL SIMULTANEOUS SAMPLE/HOLD EXPANSION BOARD.
STANFORD TELECOM ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF DPSK DEMODULATOR.
HARRIS INTRODUCES ANALOG COMPARATOR.
STANDARD LOGIC GETS ACQUISITION OPTION FOR APPOINT INC.
LSI LOGIC/INTERACTIVE TO MAKE SUNOS RUN ON LSI CHIPSET.
11 FINANCIAL RESULTS FROM SELECTED SEMICONDUCTOR AND EQUIPMENT COMPANIES
The following data show revenue and net income in millions of dollars for the
fiscal quarter specified. The percentage change is a comparison to the
financial results of the same quarter of the previous year. (All numbers are
rounded to the nearest tenth.)
LATEST QTR % LATEST QTR %
COMPANY QTR REVENUE CHANGE INCOME CHANGE
Adaptec 2 $ 33.5 -4.7% $ 2.6 -41.3%
Amdahl 3 419.3 -14.2% 5.5 -88.2%
Applied Magnetic 4 100.5 -4.8% -26.0 NM
FYr 455.5 23.6% -17.6 -57.7%
BTU Int'l 3 11.1 -24.4% -0.5 80.6%
Chips 'n Tech 1 32.3 -44.6% -9.9 NM
Compaq Computer 3 709.4 -17.8 -70.3 -156.8%
Control Data 3 344.9 -20.5% -7.5 -188.2%
Genus Inc. 3 12.8 33.4% -0.8 86.9%
IDT Inc. 2 49.2 -0.7% -19.5 -101.3%
IKOS Systems FYr 15.1 -4.2% -4.1 -346.5%
Int'l Rectifier 1 58.9 0.9% 2.6 126.3%
Maxtor Corp 2 250.0 4.3% -9.3 -671.2%
MIPS Computer 3 32.7 -12.6% -37.3 NM
Northern Telecom 3 1,620.0 18.5% 102.0 12.1%
nView Corp. 3 4.9 434.3% 0.4 NM
Raychem 1 304.2 4.1% 7.4 124.0%
Silicon Graphics 1 151.7 31.0% 9.4 -2.1%
SVG 4 53.3 -14.9% 0.2 -18.6%
FYr 234.8 27.4% 1.6 -63.1%
Stanford Telecom 2 22.4 -11.1 0.9 0.5%
Sun Microsys. 1 754.9 11.5 26.7 2.7%
SymTek Systems 2 13.0 65.7 0.6 74.4%
Tandem Computers 4 509.1 0.6% 2.9 -91.0%
FYr 1,551.1 0.8% 35.2 -71.1%
Tandy Corp. 1 1,052.0 -2.9% 41.8 2.3%
Telebit Corp 3 9.3 -7.2% -4.8 -119.0%
Varian (cons.) FYr 1,377.9 8.9% 57.5 107.1%
Semi. Equip. 342.0 14.7% 18.0 175.0%
12 PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY . . .
NEIL VANDER DUSSEN, Vice Chairman of Sony Corp. of America, announced his
retirement effective January 1, 1992 . . . Viewlogic Systems has appointed
RONALD R. BENANTO, formerly of Symbolics, Vice President of Finance and CFO.
13 DQ PERSPECTIVE
U.S. Chip Makers May Get Tax Relief
United States semiconductor manufacturers have long been complaining that
certain U.S. business conditions limit their ability to compete with non-U.S.
companies. Two of the most commonly targeted practices are the cost of capital
and the capital equipment depreciation tax laws. The depreciation tax law could
soon be changed.
It is common industry knowledge that the ability to compete in the semiconductor
industry requires a chip maker to constantly develop and produce new products.
This means continually investing in research and the production tools needed to
manufacture technically competitive products. Because of short product
life-cycles, the return on this investment must be very rapid--something not
easily achieved under the current U.S. tax laws.
A law change that would shorten the depreciation period for capital equipment
was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last August by
Representatives Raymond McGrath (R-New York) and J.J. Pickle (D-Texas). It is
called "The Semiconductor Investment Act of 1991". Nearly 30 members of the
House of Representatives have joined the legislation as original co-sponsors.
The legislation is now awaiting hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Legislative Impact
The current tax depreciation law allows capital equipment to be depreciated over
five years. There are two problems with the current law. First, just as
semiconductor life-cycles grow increasingly shorter, so too is the useful life
for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
The current U.S. Internal Revenue code allows semiconductor manufacturers to use
a modified accelerated cost recovery schedule, as opposed to a straight-line
schedule. The allowable depreciation schedule is:
YEAR 1 2 3 4 5 6 *
DEPRECIATION
PER YEAR 20% 32% 19.2% 11.52% 11.52% 5.76%
* A sixth year is added because the code assumes only one-half year utilization
in the first year.
Second, many non-U.S. competing companies have the benefit of more favorable
depreciation and other tax laws in their countries than do U.S. firms. The
result of these more favorable laws is that it allows capital to be turned over
more rapidly, effectively reducing the cost of capital.
Japan, for example, uses a three-year depreciation schedule, which is:
YEAR 1 2 3
DEPRECIATION PER YEAR 50% 30% 20%
Other incentives may include tax credits for equipment used for more than one
shift, or tax credits for locating manufacturing equipment in enterprise zones
(areas the country wants to develop). Under the depreciation schedule and with
these added incentives the Semiconductor Industry Association reports that in
Japan it is possible for a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer to effectively
depreciate 88% of the capital investment in the first year. Other countries
have similar policies, which can provide a significant capital advantage.
The proposed U.S. legislation would shorten the depreciation period to three
years. Such a schedule might appear as
YEAR 1 2 3
DEPRECIATION PER YEAR 25% 38% 37%
Current Status
Legislation has been known to die waiting for a committee hearing, however,
there is new activity. This indicates there is renewed Congressional interest
in this Act. The same measure, Senate Bill S-1786, was introduced in the U.S.
Senate on October 1, 1991 by Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana). Fifteen Senators
have signed on as original co-sponsors.
The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and the SIA both
have publicly endorsed the Act and are pushing for its passage.
It is not likely that the legislation will be acted upon this year, but hearings
could start before year end. The ACT is not expected to make it through
Congress without opposition. Other industries are likely to feel discriminated
against, or could lobby for inclusion under the Act. Also, it is too early to
determine what posture the Administration is likely to take. President Bush has
been adamantly opposed to setting a formal industry policy or to legislation
which favors industry. On the other hand, the President strongly supports
investment incentives, primarily through capital gains tax relief.
Additionally, he has endorsed measures which can grow U.S. technology that is
useful to the government in defense and the environment.
Also, to confuse the situation, there are other tax-related measures in the
works: President Bush still wants the Capital Gains Tax cuts, Senator Lloyd
Bentsen has introduced a "middle-class" tax cut measure, and the budget deficit
keeps growing. Both legislative measures are controversial and it appears that
no one wants to tackle the deficit. Since 1992 is an election year, both the
President and Congress will want to take care of any tax-related measures early
in 1992 to give the voters a chance to forget.
Dataquest certainly believes the depreciation tax law needs to be changed. The
benefit to the semiconductor manufacturing and semiconductor equipment
industries would be significant. Although the odds of this legislation being
enacted are a little low, Dataquest believes it is essential legislation if U.S.
semiconductor firms are to compete effectively in the world marketplace.
By Marc Elliot
The Dataquest analyst who participated in this issue of DQ MONDAY include Jerry
Banks, Ron Bohn, George Burns, Marc Elliot, Mark Fitzgerald, Mark Giudici, Gary
Grandbois, Junko Matsubara, Nick Samaras, Krishna Shankar, Greg Sheppard, Jeff
Seerley, and Peggy Wood.)
Copyright 1991 Dataquest Incorporated October ed.
DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines
|
|---|