2005 turned out to be a very good year for the semiconductor industry. Despite record energy prices and an unprecedented series of natural disasters, worldwide demand for semiconductors increased in all end markets. Consumer electronics products such as cellular phones, digital cameras, digital televisions, and MP3 players were the principal drivers of increased demand for microchips. Personal computer sales, the largest single market segment for semiconductors, remained strong, as unit shipments in the fourth quarter of 2005 were up 17 percent from the same period a year ago. |
A number of growth trends in the Asia Pacific market are positive due to continued outsourcing to contract manufacturers located in the region, |
A number of growth trends in the Asia Pacific market are positive due to continued outsourcing to contract manufacturers located in the region. |
All in all, we're very well aligned with what the president laid out in his State of the Union address the other night. |
Although business investment has yet to pick up, consumer confidence and inventory replenishing continue to rise, driving the early stages of the overall recovery, |
Although business investment has yet to pick up, consumer confidence and inventory replenishing continue to rise, driving the early stages of the overall recovery. |
April sales show continued industry growth and are surpassing our expectations for 2000, |
As expected, the semiconductor industry should close out 2002 with modest but sustained overall growth, |
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. |
Cell phone unit sales increased by 31% from the first quarter of 2005 and ran substantially ahead of expectations. Unit sales are now expected to reach one billion this year. |
China has enacted a number of laws to protect intellectual property, including a law to protect semiconductor layout designs. Enforcement of IP protection laws has been widely recognized as falling short of what is needed to deter violations. In some cases, penalties for violation of IP rights are so light that they are considered to be a routine cost of doing business. |
Companies may do really well, and compensate fairly, and end up with a loss (because of option costs). Whether or not that's going to (hurt them) remains to be seen. |
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. |
Doubling the basic research funding over 10 years is a huge move because that's what needs to get done to get the pump primed. |
For the first time since the September quarter of 2000, Asia Pacific sales had a modest increase on a sequential basis reflecting improved supply-demand balance in the PC market, |