Eyeing Downturn, Chip Makers Trim Equipment Buying
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The semiconductor industry is showing the first signs of slowing growth, trimming purchases of raw materials and production equipment as demand slows, industry executives and analysts said on Tuesday.
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National Semiconductor Corp., which makes analog chips used in cell phones, computers and televisions, said Thursday it is cutting about 550 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global work force, as it copes with an inventory buildup and lower demand.
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Chip stocks fell across the globe on Friday after Intel, the market leader, slashed its forecasts for revenue and profit margin for the third quarter, citing unexpectedly weak demand.
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For China, it could reinvigorate a chip industry that has slowed over the past few years as major chip makers posted a string of money-losing quarters. It also represents a token of goodwill by Taiwan to political enemy China.
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North American manufacturers of  equipment used to make semiconductors saw orders fall 10  percent in September from August, a U.S. trade group said on  Thursday.
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Like it or not, buyers of x86 servers, clients, and workstations face a major platform shift as the 32-bit CPUs, operating systems, and applications slowly fade into history.
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Sony Corp.  will cut back on future chip spending and may not produce advanced chips used in its PlayStation 3 (PS3) in-house, a senior executive said on Tuesday, in a move aimed at driving the semiconductor unit's nascent earnings recovery.
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Three more Taiwanese chip makers plan to&#160;spend significantly less money on new factories and equipment&#160;this year as a DRAM (dynamic RAM) glut and uncertainty about the global economy weigh.Lower capital spending forecasts in the chip industry are a sign the global IT industry is on edge about future demand. Analysts have expected DRAM makers to cut back on spending for a long time due to&#160;falling chip prices. Prices for mainstream DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) chips remain below production costs, and most DRAM makers have reported losses for the fourth quarter.Powerchip Semiconductor, Taiwan&#39;s largest memory chip maker, Wednesday said it plans to spend NT$35.1 billion (US$1.09 billion) on new chip factories, technology and production line equipment this year, less than half the NT$86.3 billion it spent last year.Powerchip&#39;s smaller rival on the island, ProMOS Technologies, also more than halved its projected 2008 capital spending to US$800 million, down from US$1.84 billion last year. The company also put the expansion of its fourth 12-inch factory on hold pending a rebound in the DRAM market.United Microelectronics (UMC), the world&#39;s second largest contract chip maker, forecast its 2008 capital spending at US$500 million to US$700 million, down from US$900 million last year.The company&#39;s customers have turned cautious due to global economic worries, said Jackson Hu, CEO of UMC, at an investors&#39; conference in Taipei on Wednesday. The company forecast its chip shipments will decline as much as 15 percent in the first quarter, compared to the fourth quarter of last year as chip demand weakens, particularly for communications chips.Global semiconductor equipment spending is forecast to fall 9.9 percent to US$40.3 billion this year, from US$44.8 billion last year, according to Gartner. The market researcher blamed over-investment by DRAM makers in 2007 for the cutback in semiconductor capital spending this year. Concerns about a U.S. economic recession have also put chip makers in a cautious mood, Gartner said in a report published early this month.&#160;
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Is the chip giant bargain-shopping or just wasting money?
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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Amid a lull in the IC market, North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 1.00 in August, down from 1.04 in July, according to new figures
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Despite last wek's market downturn, chip-equipment makers' share prices have been rising this week. And analysts still expect user hardware spending increases through 2008.
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National Semiconductor Corp., which makes analog chips used in cell phones, computers and televisions, said Thursday it is cutting about 650 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global work force, as it copes with an inventory buildup and lower demand.
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U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in the technology sector after microchip maker National Semiconductor Corp.  cut its quarterly revenue forecast.
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A glut of DRAM chips has lead some Taiwanese DRAM makers to cut back on their capital spending plans this year.
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Global sales of chip equipment are expected to fall 5.2 percent next year, an industry group said Wednesday in a sharp reversal of its midyear forecast of 24 percent growth.
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The chipmaker gets another downgrade on Friday.
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Shares of chip makers sank in Thursday trading after two US firms lowered their quarterly sales expectations, but the sector saw some relief after National Semiconductor Corp.