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 : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cooters who wrote (42850)	10/21/2004 3:19:37 PM
From: Rich Bloem	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197214

"What we're doing is we're working with our semiconductor manufacturer partners to get more capacity committed to Qualcomm," he said. Has anybody on this board ever done a study to estimate the amount of excess fab capacity there is available around the world??? Q's ASIC business is going to continue to climb and if the largest Fabless supplier of chips is having trouble finding more capacity, I wonder how long before they decide to build their own plant. On the other hand, maybe they would consider owning a large interest in a TSC type of FAB house. I really don't relish the thought of Q owning their own FAB facility. Major bucks.

To: Cooters who wrote (42850)	10/21/2004 3:22:01 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197214

Interesting that Keitel said this in the middle of what I know to be Q's traditional self-imposed quiet period before earnings announcements.

To: Cooters who wrote (42850)	10/21/2004 3:58:11 PM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 197214

At least one of Qualcomm's three RF chip suppliers is boosting capacity. Also, during their September CC, Atmel stated that their BiCMOS foundry customer would be sequentially up (seems likely to be Qualcomm). I didnt hear anything from Freescale....but I wasnt listening to the CC that closely. eet.com IBM to boost wafer fab output amid strong Q3 results By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies October 18, 2004 (5:50 PM EDT) SAN JOSE, Calif. — Despite an apparent slowdown in the IC market, IBM Corp. plans to boost the wafer output within its 300-mm fab over the next quarter, according to the company on Monday (Oct. 18). IBM's Microelectronics Group is also expected to show break-even results for the year, according to analysts. IBM doubled the output within the 300-mm fab in the third quarter and has set plans to boost production by 40 percent in the fourth quarter, said Mark Loughridge, senior vice president and chief financial officer for the computer giant (Armonk, N.Y.) The company's 300-mm fab is located in East Fishkill, N.Y. Although IBM is seeing ongoing demand in the foundry business, the company is still reportedly struggling with its fab yields. For months, the unit has struggled with chip yields in the 300-mm fab, a 130- and 90-nm plant. Last week, Apple Computer Inc. reported stellar results despite availability problems with its 64-bit G5 processors, according to a report from the MacCentral Web site. Used in Apple's Mac-based computers, the 64-bit G5 processors are built on a foundry basis by IBM Corp.'s Microelectronics Group, according to analysts (see Oct. 13 story). Besides Apple, other foundry customers include Broadcom, Nvidia, Intersil, and Qualcomm. During a conference call on Monday, however, Loughridge indicated that the chip unit is showing some improvement. "300-mm yields continue to improve," he said. "Yields and output in East Fishkill fab improving, which bodes for a meaningful profit for Microelectronics in Q4 [and] break-even for year," said Steve Weber, an analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp. (New York). Meanwhile, IBM said revenues from continuing operations for the third quarter were $23.4 billion, up 9 percent compared with the third quarter of 2003 revenues of $21.5 billion and up 1 percent sequentially from $23.2 billion in the second quarter of this year. Third-quarter income from continuing operations was $1.80 billion, an increase of 1 percent compared with $1.79 billion a year ago. Third-quarter 2004 diluted earnings per common share of $1.06 from continuing operations as reported, compared with diluted earnings of $1.02 per share in the same period of 2003, an increase of 4 percent. Samuel Palmisano, IBM chairman and chief executive officer, was bullish about the results. "In what is normally a challenging quarter for the technology industry, IBM delivered one of our strongest third quarters in revenue and earnings growth in recent years," he said in a statement. "IBM has been gaining momentum throughout the year, and the strength of our integrated business model gives us confidence as we look toward 2005."