Japanese quake and tsunami — too devastating to watch on TV!

I’m shocked — seeing the devastating images on TV from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami! The images on TV from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami are just too depressing! I am really worried for some of my friends from that part of the world! Shinpai da!! It is being reported on TV that the quake has shifted

It’s Q1 seasonal slowdown, and yearly time for denial!

This is a summary by Malcolm Penn, CEO, Future Horizons. For those who wish to know more, please get in touch with me or Future Horizons. December’s WSTS results were as boring as they were predictable, with no serious data revisions (thankfully) and the results right where we expected. December’s year-on-year IC unit growth was

Top 20 global semicon suppliers of 2010!

I’ve just received this report from iSuppli, which says that the global semiconductor revenue expands by record margin in 2010 — to $304 billion in 2010, up from $229.5 billion in 2009. This represents growth of 32.5 percent for the year! Fantastic!! This growth is said to be courtesy of a boom in DRAM and

Why has the semicon equipment bubble really burst? – II

Here’s the concluding part of my discussion with Dr. Robert Castellano of The Information Network, from New Tripoli, USA. Repercussions of a deteriorating semiconductor industry I asked Dr. Castellano regarding the repercussions of a deteriorating semiconductor industry. He said that the semiconductor equipment industry seems to be in serious trouble. There could possible be little

Why has the semicon equipment bubble really burst? – I

Yesterday or early today, I’d mentioned about receiving an interesting report from The Information Network — where it said that the global semiconductor equipment industry bubble has burst! It made interesting use of an analogy around “The Emperor’s New Clothes,”  a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen and the global semiconductor industry. So, I got

Global semicon industry update Mar. ’10: Time for a reality check…pessimism has swung too far, says Future Horizons

January’s WSTS results continued to follow the underlying industry recovery trend, with ICs sales up 4.8 percent versus December (on a five-week month adjusted basis). They were also up 73.7 percent versus January 2009, a relatively meaningless number other than to recall just how bad things were this time last year. The real significance of

Global semicon mid-year review: Chip market revival or blip on stats radar screen?

A recent report from Future Horizons suggests an 18 percent growth for the chip market in Q2-2009! So, is this a sign of the chip market recovery or a mere blip on the statistics radar screen? It is both, said, Malcolm Penn, chairman, founder and CEO of Future Horizons, and counselled that: “The fourth quarter

Reports of memory market recovery greatly exaggerated: iSuppli

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Concerned about their image as they face the specter of bankruptcy, many memory chip suppliers are attempting to paint a more optimistic picture of the business by talking up a potential market recovery. However, while overall memory chip prices are expected to stabilize during the remaining quarters of 2009, iSuppli Corp. believes

2009 DRAM CAPEX decreased by 56 percent: DRAMeXchange

The 2008 DRAM chip price dropped more than 85 percent, while the global DRAM industry has faced more than two years of cyclical downturn, and the consumer demand suddenly froze because of the global financial crisis in 2H08. In 1Q09, the DDR2 667 MHz 1Gb chip price rebounded to an average of US$ 0.88, which

No semicon recovery before mid 2010: Europartners

Connecting with new friends from all over the world is one of the best things that I have experienced while writing a semicon and electronics blog. One such gentleman is Ingo Guertler from Europartners Consultants. He is based in Munich, Germany — a city I have frequented several times. Guertler has been part of my