Joseph Bronson, chief financial officer at Applied
Materials, said demand for chip-making gear continues to be hurt by a glut of
memory chips, the popularity of ultracheap personal computers, and the Asian
economic mess.
Sure to the first and third reasons, but the ultracheap personal computer reason is kind of hard to go along with. OK, these computers don't have a lot of memory, so that's lost chips. But, they all have to have a CPU chip, and aren't a whole lot of them being sold because of the price, hence a whole lot more CPU chips to be made? Even AMD may get profitable in 4Q, if you listen to Sanders and Kurlak (there's a pair to draw on). Also, Intel is anything but complaining. Back to the ultracheap computer part, Dell is cleaning up while concentrating on "performance" computers, AKA high end.
No doubt the semi equip group is hurting bad, but the reasons the companies come out with don't always make sense.
Tony |
