Intel leads semiconductor vendors despite slump in 2006
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High points of the coming year will include continuing strength in the DRAM market and strong consumer electronics sales, Gartner says.
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(InfoWorld) - The global chip market is suffering from falling prices in microprocessors and memory chips, bad news for companies but great for users. Steep declines in DRAM (dynamic RAM) for PCs and NAND flash memory, used in a variety of gadgets including digital cameras and iPods, as well as microprocessors prompted the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) to slash its global sales forecast for this year to US$252 billion, just 1.8 percent growth compared to last year. The previous estimate called for sales growth of 10 percent this year. Sales of gadgets themselves are on track to meet forecasts, however, SIA said. Chip shipments overall remain healthy, as does end-user demand. But prices continue to fall for a variety of reasons, including a glut in the memory market and a price war between Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in microprocessors. "End markets continue to be strong, with consumers realizing major benefits from lower chip prices coupled with ever-increasing performance and functionality from advances in chip technology. Despite a forecast of slower growth, we expect that global sales of microchips will surpass last yearâs record level," the SIA said in a statement on Wednesday. Intel and AMD have been battling each other through price reductions for over a year now, and reports indicate that Intel will cut prices on some microprocessors again in late July. The price war has been good to consumers, delivering more technically advanced microprocessors at a lower cost. Microprocessors are generally the most expensive chip inside a PC. The DRAM market has been hit the worst. The price of mainstream 512M-bit second-generation double data rate (DDR2) DRAM that runs at 667MHz has plunged 72 percent so far this year to US$1.79 per chip, according to DRAMeXchange Technology Inc., a Taiwanese clearinghouse for the chips. The market research division of the company has noted that the chips appear to be bottoming out, and that prices could tick up a bit later this month. DRAM price reductions for users normally come a few weeks or a month after the spot DRAM market falls. NAND Flash memory has suffered a similar fate as DRAM, but not quite as steep a decline. A glut of the chips early in the year has been wiped out by memory makers, which tweaked production lines to make more DRAM instead of NAND flash. Prices of 8G byte NAND has fallen 18 percent his year to US$9.26, according to DRAMeXchange, while the 4G byte capacity has dropped nearly 15 percent to US$5.69. The SIA expects PC and mobile phone sales to rise 10 percent each this year. Mobile phone sales may give chips a bigger boost, however, because users are buying more 3G (third generation communications) handsets, which contain more chips than older phones. Sales of personal media players and digital music players are expected to grow by more than 20 percent this year, SIA said, but noted that price competition in the market will likely keep NAND flash chip prices tame. The SIA report followsÂ a similar estimation of the global chip industry by Gartner. A few weeks ago, the market researcher lowered its forecast to just 2.5 percent growth to US$269.2 billion this year, down from an earlier estimate of 6.4 percent. Â ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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Intel is well-positioned for both mid-term and long-term growth.
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In an announcement before semiconductor engineers in San Francisco this morning, AMD and IBM put forth proof of what could be their breakthrough process - their response to Intel in the race to reduction.  It could pull AMD back even with Intel by 2008, if Intel doesn't respond in the intervening months.
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Highlights of this year's Intel Developer forum included new 45nm Penryn and Nehalem CPUs, upcoming server and enthusisat motherboards, $200 laptops, and a talk with Gordon Moore. Here's what it all looked like.
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INTEL, the worldâs largest company making computer microchips, said it expected a much better performance in the first half of next year.
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No. 1 chipmaker Intel (INTC) on Thursday dramatically lowered its revenue estimates for the current quarter, a sign that the tech industry&#39;s rebound may be slowing.
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In spite of AMD, Intel price war European microchip sales recover slightly in July but still lag behind the global average, according to the latest figures.â¦
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Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip company, is not suffering from overcapacity and new areas are emerging that will increase global demand for microprocessors, its chief executive said Friday.
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There&#39;s been a fair amount of debate recently about whether AMD or Intel is winning the ever-present chip arms race. Based on the experience of this year&#39;s Intel Developer Forum (IDF), I&#39;m not sure that Intel can still claim to be in the lead.
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Intel, the world's leading computer chip maker, slashes its revenue forecasts, triggering a decline in global chip stocks.
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It was by any measure a stellar year for the world's leading microprocessor manufacturer, but what's disappointing investors this quarter is the disheartening news that 2007 is over.
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Intel Corp. , the largest maker of microchips, on Thursday raised its quarterly revenue target, citing strong worldwide demand for its microprocessors, and its shares jumped nearly 6 percent in after-hours trading.
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(InfoWorld) - Predictions that growing demand for notebook PCs would result in a corresponding slowdown in demand for desktops haven't come to pass, Intel's top executive in Asia said. "Pretty much all of our forecasts have understated mobile [growth] and have also suggested that at some point desktop [growth] will flatten out or even start to decline," said John Antone, vice president and general manager of Intel Asia-Pacific, in a telephone interview. "The good news is that mobile continues to grow a little bit faster than we forecast and desktop has not contracted," Antone said. Intel, the largest provider of microprocessors used in PCs, saw its finances buoyed byÂ growing demand for PCs. On Tuesday, the company said its second-quarter revenue was $8.7 billion, up 8 percent over the same period. Second-quarterÂ profit rose 44 percentÂ over the same period last year, to $1.3 billion. Intel doesn't break out its revenue by specific product type, but does provide a breakdown by business unit. For example, Intel's Mobility Group, which makes chips for notebooks, saw microprocessor sales rise from almost $2 billion during the second quarter of 2006 to nearly $2.4 billion during the second quarter of 2007. The strong growth in mobile processor sales was largely due to the launch of Santa Rosa, an upgraded version of Intel's Centrino chip package. Intel's desktop processor sales are harder to determine, as they are spread across different business groups. But Intel said desktop processor shipments were up during the second quarter, despite generating less revenue as a result of a price war with Advanced Micro DevicesÂ (AMD) that hit prices for low. "Desktop unit demand came in higher than seasonal with strength across the board while revenue was lower on a year-over-year basis," said Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, during a conference call with investors. Predictions that desktop PC sales would decline as notebook shipments grow underestimated the demand from emerging markets. While desktop shipments in the U.S. and Western Europe have indeed declined, the market for desktop PCs has shifted to emerging countries, where such systems continue to be in high demand, Antone said. "That frontier of where computing is getting to continues to push forward, and so the overall total unit volume for desktops has continued to be slightly up. It hasn't contracted on a worldwide basis yet," he said. Â
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SAN FRANCISCO: Intel upcoming mid-quarter report will be closely watched for signs of weak back-to-school computer sales, though recent market share gains in memory chips could help offset any softness in computer microprocessor demand.
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The chip maker now expects revenue of between $8.3 billion and $8.6 billion due to lower-than-expected worldwide demand for its processors as well as "customer reductions in component inventory levels."
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc.  AMD.N captured nearly 10 percent of computer microchip market  revenue in the third quarter, the highest level in nearly three  years, market research firm IDC said on Tuesday.