George Scalise Forecast Quotations

Our forecast released in November calls fourth-quarter sales to be 4.7 percent higher than the third quarter, and with two months of data now in, we are on target to meet that projection.

June's numbers exceeded our expectations and affirm our forecast for a strong 2000.

Continued steady growth across the industry is exhibited in May chip sales and, as announced in our forecast last month, we expect the industry to close the second quarter with growth of 4.7 percent.

The September results are in line with the 1997-2000 worldwide forecast we released last week which calls for industry growth of 5.5 percent in 1997 and 16.8 percent in 1998.

As far as the biggest surprise goes, it would have to be that the increase in energy costs did not impact demand at all, ... When we put our forecast together a year ago. we were quite conservative and expected demand to be flat.

The October sales are another indication that the industry is on track to achieve our forecast of 4.7 percent growth in the fourth quarter.