Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert b furman who wrote (8570)	1/24/2004 11:12:55 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Could This Be a 'Champagne Year' for Semiconductors? By David Manners -- Electronics Weekly, 1/23/2004 A "champagne and caviar" year is predicted for the worldwide semiconductor industry in 2004, but the U.K. market is expected to show little growth. "I'm expecting a champagne and caviar year," said Malcolm Penn, chairman of Future Horizons. "We're projecting 26 percent growth. The strong recovery already under way is helped by tight fab capacity." At iSuppli, VP Joe D'Elia predicted: "Growth across all sectors and all geographies." While IC Insights expects 27 percent growth, U.S. analyst Dan Niles told the Oracle Summit recently said: "This is going to be a really strong period of growth. It will be slower than in the past, but it will last a long time." Even the wired telecoms sector is predicted to recover with iSuppli expecting 9 percent market growth for optical components such as lasers, amplifiers, DWDM and CWDM filters and micro-optics. By mid-January shares at Lucent and Nortel had leapt 50 percent from their 2003 year-end levels. However, the U.K. semiconductor market won't be sharing the euphoria. "There will be growth in the U.K. but it won't be large growth; about 5 to 8 percent," said Malcolm House, chief economist of Intellect. Consumer electronics, which grew 5.7 percent last year to reach $230.5 billion, will grow 6.8 percent to hit $246.5 billion, said iSuppli. The digitization of consumer products has led to sharply reduced prices which are driving the boom, with new consumer market entrants like Dell and Gateway expected to drive prices lower. The replacement of PCs bought in 1999 to avoid Y2K problems is expected to happen this year. PC shipments in Q1 2004 are forecast by iSuppli to be 16.8 percent up on Q1 2003. It suggests this will be a good year for the PC, which still uses more semiconductors than any other product sector. Doug Dunn, CEO of Dutch chip manufacturing equipment firm ASML, said last week that the recovery had started. "The upturn has arrived with 2004. But it's just sunrise," he said. "We can see light across the industry's rising capital expenditures and in our own backlog." Dunn, who has held the position of CEO since 1999, also announced his intention to retire before the end of 2004. Electronics Weekly is the London-based sister publication of Electronic News.