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

To: Gottfried who wrote (14757)	5/4/2005 10:05:58 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

DSP chip shipments down in Q1, says analyst Peter Clarke EE Times (05/04/2005 8:42 AM EDT) LONDON — After growing 27.2 percent in 2004, DSP chip shipments declined in the first quarter of 2005 compared with the fourth quarter of 2004, according to market research organization Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.). DSP shipments were down 9 percent in the quarter, but there was disparity in growth rates among the major applications, Forward Concepts said. DSP shipments to the wireless infrastructure market were up sharply, by 36 percent, while consumer electronics took the biggest hit, falling some 26 percent in the quarter. Cellular subscriber, the biggest DSP market segment, was off by 9 percent, dragging down the whole sector. That market segment consists primarily of cell phone baseband processors and application processors, while wireless infrastructure consists mostly of premium, high-performance DSP chips. Forward Concepts attributes the wireless infrastructure growth to sharp increases in the rollouts for both WCDMA/UMTS and EDGE networks. Forward Concepts attributes a 20 percent rise in DSP shipments to the automotive market is attributed primarily to dashboard electronics for radios, stereos and navigation, while safety, control and power train are still relatively small parts of that segment. Geographically, shipments for the quarter were down in all regions, with Europe down 14.1 percent, and the Americas region declining the 3.7 percent, the market researcher said. Compared with a year before DSP revenue in the first quarter of 2005 was higher by 6.1 percent on average selling prices up 15.7 percent. March shipments were up 43.7 percent over those of February. "Since the monthly shipments are based on a three-month rolling average, we interpret this is a clear upward vector, and maintain our 10 percent growth forecast for the year," said Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, in a statement.

To: Gottfried who wrote (14757)	5/4/2005 10:49:36 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Oil Prices Fall Below $49 Per Barrel Wednesday May 4, 10:45 am ET By George Jahn, Associated Press Writer Oil Prices Fall Below $49 a Barrel As U.S. Supplies of Crude Oil, Gasoline Rise VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices fell below $49 a barrel Wednesday after the U.S. government released data that showed rising supplies of crude oil and gasoline. Light, sweet crude for June was down 70 cents at $48.80 in early trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Expectations are that both crude and product stocks are going to rise -- that means even higher stocks that already are very high" in the world's greatest energy consuming nation, said analyst Ehsan Ul-Haq of Vienna's PVM energy consultants. "Prices are going down all over the world, but most severely in the West." The latest petroleum supply snapshot from the U.S. Department of Energy showed a 2.6 million barrel increase in crude oil last week, bringing the nation's inventories to 327 million barrels, or 9 percent above year ago levels. The supply of gasoline grew by 2.2 million barrels to 213.5 million barrels, or 6 percent above year ago levels. The downward pressure on prices also has to do with slower economic growth in the United States. The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates Tuesday to curb spending as overall consumer prices spiked by 0.6 percent in March, driven by expensive gasoline and energy products. The move could slow growth in the world's largest economy, reducing demand for oil, traders said. "One reason oil prices got hit hard last week was the barrage of weaker-than-expected macroeconomic reports," said Phil Flynn, an analyst with Chicago-based Alaron Futures and Options, on the firm's Web site. "Traders started thinking it would be difficult for oil demand to remain strong if the economy softened." Crude supplies in the United States have risen in recent weeks, but concern remains over the country's gasoline stocks ahead of the summer driving season. Although crude futures have fallen by more than $9 since their all-time high of $58.28 in early April, prices remain around 30 percent higher than a year ago. On Tuesday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency urged nations to diversify energy supplies and reiterated its warning that persistently high oil prices are "a drag on economic activity and growth." "Today's prices demand actions to stimulate and diversify energy supply and curb demand," the IEA said. Associated Press Writers Brad Foss in Washington and En-Lai Yeoh in Singapore contributed to this report.

To: Gottfried who wrote (14757)	5/4/2005 11:30:39 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Looking at the chart Q1 2005 (supposedly weak due to seasonality) is very close to the 3 peak month in 2000 (who would have thinked?). home.comcast.net besides inventories are down significantly compared to 2000 and chipmakers have cut back on capex putting somewhat a lid on the supply side - and emerging markets in Asia are building momentum

To: Gottfried who wrote (14757)	5/5/2005 6:05:03 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25522

Perhaps we don't need a crash afterall - Just another forecast but it shows some people fiddling around with numbers. if we are really at 85% (u-rates) and very little inventory things could become interesting (supposedly we approaching the slow summer season though it's raining pretty good today). Also from booking, billing to full production it takes 6 to 9 months From: Bruno Cipolla 5/5/2005 4:06:42 PM of 28147 Firm now sees 18% growth - not minus 3% - for ICs in '05 Mark LaPedus (05/05/2005 1:28 PM EDT) URL: eetimes.com SAN JOSE, Calif. — Research firm IC Knowledge has dramatically revised its semiconductor forecast for 2005, saying the market will grow by 17.6 percent this year — as opposed to minus 2.7 percent. Total IC revenues were originally expected to fall by 2.7 percent this year, from $178.6 billion in 2004 to $173.8 billion in 2005, according to IC Knowledge (Georgetown, Mass.) in January.. Now, the research firm has switched gears and revised the forecast based on stronger-than-expected average selling prices (ASPs) for ICs. "We further expect ASPs to increase from $1.70 in 2004 to $1.84 for 2005, resulting in a net increase in total IC revenue from $178.6 billion dollars for 2004 to $210.1 billion dollars for 2005, a 17.6 percent increase," said Scott Jones, president of the research firm, in a report. "We currently expect total IC units in 2005 to grow to 114.2 billion units from 104.9 billion units in 2004," Jones said. "Due to the increased unit growth we now expect new 300-mm capacity to be better absorbed by the industry. Although we expect mid to low eighty percent utilization for Q1, we expect utilization to recover to the mid nineties as the year progresses." Jones is among the most optimistic analysts in the arena. Most forecasters are looking at flat-to-negative growth in 2005. European market research firm Future Horizons (Sevenoaks, England) recently re-iterated its prediction that the semiconductor market will grow by 15 percent in 2005 to produce annual sales of $245 billion.