Tony, re: PC retail demand
I suspect that US consumer PC demand will get softer. Lots of things are contributing to this. Gas prices are up, less discretionary dollars around. Interest rates up, stocks down. Lots of hot new consumer products on the market, digital cameras, MP3 players, Sony PS2, DVD. Retail sales are slowing, and a new PC is the type of discretionary purchase that folks will put off until they feel more comfortable. JMHO.
On the other hand, corporate sales are strong, Asia Pacific / Japan growth is 30%+. High margin mobile and high margin server sales are very strong. Intel ain't hurting, US consumer retail should be easily overcome by the other markets. A consumer slowdown may actually be good for Intel, they can use the capacity for higher margin products without losing retail market share. AMD, however...
Just my take,
John |
