Chip sales set record in August
475730
Semiconductor sales worldwide surged to a monthly record of $20.5 billion in August, fueled by higher demand for memory chips used in PCs and mobile gadgets such as cell phones and digital cameras, an industry group reported Monday.
600265
The world's largest chipmaker posts its best quarterly sales figures, boosting optimism about profit throughout the industry.
470681
So much for Intel, AMD price cuts World chip sales grew a little in July, with sale up just 1.8 per cent on the previous month's figure, the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported this past Friday. Sales for the month total $20.1bn.â¦
577895
Retail sales unexpectedly rose in August, gaining 0.6 percent after a 0.7 percent gain in July, the Office for National Statistics said.
164831
The world's largest chipmaker, Intel, boosts its prediction of sales for the final three months of the year to $9.3-9.5bn.
16183
Manufacturing output climbed by 0.4 percent in August compared with output the previous month, official data has shown.
537778
Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 9.2 percent in January, boosted by better-than-expected cell phone shipments and strong sales of personal computers, digital cameras and music players, an industry group said on Monday.
766023
The Semiconductor Industry Association said worldwide chip sales rose 2.2 percent in July, largely due to gadget demand.
627576
Growth driven by consumer electronics biz World chip sales totalled $247.7bn last year, the US-centric Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said late Friday. Alas that's below the SIA's own full-year sales forecast of $248.8bn, a prediction made only last November.â¦
243821
Intel Corp.'s fourth-quarter sales are on track to break a company record as demand for the chips that power computers was stronger than originally expected in the weeks leading up to the holiday buying season.
442314
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 9.2 percent in January, boosted by better-than-expected cell phone shipments and strong sales of personal computers, digital cameras and music players, an industry group said on Monday.
69118
Record breaking Q3, says analyst Graphics chip makers had a particularly successful third quarter, it emerged today, with shipments up on Q2 by a whopping 20.2 per cent - the highest quarter-on-quarter increase since 2002's 18.6 per cent, by a good margin.â¦
301007
(InfoWorld) - News coming out the chip sector has been great so far this week, but analysts warn that economic woes such as the housing mess might still spoil the party. The consensus among analysts appears to be that corporate and personal spending on technology products will be hurt by the housing issues in the U.S., but nobody knows how bad the impact will be, according to Peter Sutton, head of research at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Taipei. Demand for technology products, especially computers and mobile phones, in the rest of the world is going strong, he said, but even that demand could pull back in the event of a U.S. slowdown because many developing countries depend on exports to the U.S. for income. By the end of this year, people should know how bad the loan and home foreclosure situation will be, according to Sutton. The housing market in the U.S., he said, is expected to bottom in the first quarter of next year. The fear is that the housing issues could hurt consumer spending at some point later this year, but so far the technology industry isn't showing any signs of trouble. The flow of good news started in Asia on Monday with the world's largest contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reporting record high sales in August and revising up its third quarter financial guidance. The company, considered a bellwether for the overall tech industry because of the variety of gadgets it makes chips for, said consolidated sales in August rose 10 percent year-over-year to NT$30.02 billion (US$907.0 million), beating its previous record of NT$27.96 billion from July of last year. TSMC also predicted its third quarter revenue will likely hit between NT$87 billion to NT$89 billion, higher than a previous forecast of NT$85 billion to NT$87 billion, and said its gross margin would come out at the top end of expectations. Some customers asked TSMC to ship some chips earlier than expected, a spokesman for the company said, but the company won't comment on how that might impact the fourth quarter. Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek followed up TSMC's news, announcing an agreement to buy certain telecommunications chips products from Analog Devices Inc., of Norwood, Massachusetts, for US$350 million in cash. The deal itself isn't huge, but merger and acquisition activity normally takes place when companies see bright prospects for the future, and MediaTek is looking to use the acquisition as part of its mobile phone chip strategy. Among the products the company acquired is a chipset used in TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) basebands and radio receiver products, which will help it increase its presence in its main market, China. TD-SCDMA is the 3G (third-generation) telecommunications standard being pursued in China. Positive corporate news for chip makers didn't stop in Asia. As the work day opened in the U.S., technology industry watchers were treated to theÂ long-awaited launch of Barcelona, the new quad-core processors from Advanced Micro Devices. The Sunnyvale, California company announced a number of companies are already using the chips, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, Dell, and Gateway. The world's largest chip maker capped Monday with the biggest news of the day.Â Intel raised its third quarter revenue forecastÂ to between US$9.4 billion and US$9.8 billion from a previous range of US$9.0 billion and US$9.6 billion, and said its gross margin would be at the upper end of guidance due to stronger than expected global demand for computing products. Despite the strong chip news and outlook for the current quarter, which ends Sept. 30, the future remains uncertain. "Near term data shows little evidence of order cutbacks in the tech supply chain," said Warren Lau, chip analyst at Macquarie Research Equities. "But having said that, the question remains: will the sky come crashing down because of the meltdown in the U.S. subprime markets?"
174153
(InfoWorld) - Strong demand for semiconductors has prompted chip makers to spend more on production line equipment than anticipated so far this year, an analyst from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said Tuesday. The chip equipment market is on pace to grow 20 percent this year to over $39 billion, said Dan Tracy, senior director of industry research and statistics at SEMI. That figure is higher than the 18 percent year-on-year growth the industry organization forecast in July. The growth rate will make 2006 the second strongest year ever for the industry, after its peak year in 2000. Sales of materials used in the chip making process, such as silicon wafers, are also growing faster than anticipated, Tracy said, and will likely reach a 10 percent year-on-year growth rate, higher than the 7 percent rate SEMI had previously forecast. Japan remains on pace to be the biggest spender on chip equipment this year, accounting for around a fifth of all purchases, followed by Taiwan and South Korea. Around half of all new chip factory projects are in Asia, Tracy said. But there is danger in the strong spending trend. Around 40 percent of all new production lines currently being built will start churning out chips in late 2007, potentially flooding the market with supply, Tracy said. SEMI predicts spending on new chip equipment in 2007 will be flat compared to this year.
689225
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) posted record sales and net profit in the fourth quarter as demand for chips in communications, computers, and consumer electronics products soared, the company said Thursday.The world&#39;s largest contract chip maker said sales grew more than 25 percent year-on-year to NT$93.9 billion (US$2.9 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31. Net profit increased nearly 24 percent to NT$34.5 billion. TSMC&#39;s previous sales record was NT$88.96 billion in the third quarter of 2007, while its prior record net profit came in the second quarter of 2006, NT$34.0 billion.TSMC&#39;s fourth quarter sales beat its own guidance in part due to increased demand for more advanced chips made using 90-nanometer, 65-nanometer and even finer manufacturing technologies. A total of 10 percent of TSMC&#39;s sales were for 65-nanometer and below technologies in the fourth quarter, up from 7 percent in the third quarter. The nanometer term describes the size of the smallest feature manufactured on a single chip. There are about three to six atoms in a nanometer, and a billion nanometers in a meter. Reducing the size of the features on a chip enables companies to create smaller, more energy efficient, and more powerful chips.&quot;Demand for advanced technology capacity remained very strong throughout the year,&quot; said Rick Tsai, president and CEO of TSMC, during the company&#39;s investors&#39; conference. &quot;This will continue to grow,&quot; he said.The company forecast strong guidance for the first quarter of this year, saying mobile phone and PC shipment growth should help bolster the chip industry. TSMC is a bellwether for the global IT industry due to the number and variety of chips it produces for a range of electronic gadgets.TSMC predicts its revenue will drop to between NT$87 billion and NT$89 billion in the first quarter, a slimmer decline than analysts had expected.TSMC&#39;s biggest rival, Taiwan&#39;s United Microelectronics predicted a far worse first quarter, with revenue forecast to decline by as much as 15 percent and it may post a loss for the quarter. UMC posted sales of NT$27.6 billion in the fourth quarter, up nearly 6 percent year-over-year, but its net profit fell 76.1 percent to NT$1.36 billion.TSMC joined a number of other chip makers in slashing its capital spending&#160;for this year. The company predicted its 2008 spending on new factories and production line equipment will reach only US$1.8 billion, down from US$2.6 billion last year. UMC forecast its 2008 capital spending at US$500 million to US$700 million, down from US$900 million last year.&quot;In the coming five years, we believe the capital intensity will be lower than the last five years.,&quot; said Lora Ho, TSMC&#39;s chief financial officer, indicating the company expects to spend less in coming years than it has in the past few years.Several&#160;Taiwanese chip makers have already announced significantly lower capital spending&#160;forecasts for this year, due in part to concerns about global economic growth and partly to a glut of DRAM (dynamic RAM) memory chips.&#160;
706437
Global microchip sales rose 5.9  percent in September, driven by demand for consumer products  such as personal computers and cell phones, the Semiconductor  Industry Association said on Monday.
467081
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $18.2 billion in August, exceeding expectations of $18 billion (see Tuesday, Sept.