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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (17280)	1/19/2006 11:02:01 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Gartner and IDC highlight impressive PC shipment growth in EMEA in 2005 digitimes.com

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (17280)	1/19/2006 12:41:43 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25522

Asia DRAM Report:Samsung Bets On Graphic, Mobile DRAMs By Yun-Hee Kim Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SEOUL (Dow Jones)--Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE), the world's largest memory-chip maker, has signaled that it plans to reduce its output of personal computer-use dynamic random access memory chips in the first quarter and focus on boosting graphic and mobile DRAM chips used in game consoles and wireless devices. ADVERTISEMENT The South Korean company's continuous shift away from commodity DRAM chips should enable it to enjoy much higher profit margins from its DRAM business than its peers in the traditionally slow first quarter, analysts say, while at the same time help reduce excess supply of double data rate, or DDR, computer chips in the global market. Amid weaker pricing for DDR and next-generation DDR2 chips, Samsung has been shifting wafers allocated for these chips to produce graphic and mobile DRAM. This shift, along with the move to produce NAND flash memory chips widely used in MP3 players and digital cameras, clearly helped Samsung in last year's fourth quarter when prices of commodity DDR chips were falling close to the cash-cost level for many chip makers. Typically, graphic and mobile DRAM chips can cost more to produce, but they fetch higher selling prices than commodity DRAMs, for their low power consumption feature and faster data transfer speed. On Friday as Samsung reported a 40% jump in fourth-quarter net profit to 2.56 trillion won ($2.60 billion), it noted that the average selling price of its DRAM chips on a 256-megabit equivalent basis fell 6% quarter-on-quarter to the mid $3 range, a much smaller drop than the industry's average price decline of around 15%, analysts said. Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. (6665.TO) last week cut its October-December group net profit view to Y160 million from Y1 billion-Y4 billion, citing a sharper than expected fall in DRAM prices. "If Samsung had remained in commodity DRAM, their profit margin would have plunged just like other makers. Mobile DRAM is the area that you get a lot of premium in right now and the premium will continue for the time being," said Chang-Eyun Yu, an analyst at BNP Paribas Peregrine in Seoul. U.S. market researcher iSuppli Corp. projects graphic DRAM unit shipments to grow by 59% this year and mobile DRAM unit shipments to surge 152%. As of the third quarter of 2005, Samsung held a 41% share in the mobile DRAM space and 52% in the graphic DRAM market, retaining the number one spot. Samsung's focus on specialty chips that fetch a premium and its continued reliance on NAND flash chips where demand is strong, enabled the company to post a year-on-year increase in profit and revenue from its semiconductor division during the fourth quarter. Samsung's operating profit from its semiconductor division in the fourth quarter rose to KRW1.62 trillion from KRW1.60 trillion a year earlier, while sales rose to KRW5.09 trillion from KRW4.78 trillion. "The DRAM market is becoming sound and healthy because non-PC demand is increasing very rapidly," said Chang-won Chung, an analyst at Daewoo Securities in Seoul. "DRAM makers that can diversify their DRAM portfolio can enjoy the full benefits of this change." Samsung said it plans to boost the portion of its mobile DRAM output to 25% in the first quarter from 20% in the fourth quarter of 2005. It also plans to raise its output of graphic DRAM chips to 20% in the January-March period from 15% in the previous quarter. Il Ung Kim, senior vice president of the semiconductor business said the move is due to better demand for graphic and mobile DRAM chips. Demand for PC-use DRAM chips on the other hand, is expected to slow as PC shipments are forecast to decline 10% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, Kim said. Samsung said last November it is providing the majority of graphic memory for Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Xbox 360 game console. Running at 700 megahertz, the 512-megabit GDDR3 chips can transmit data at 5.6 gigabytes a second per chip. The graphic chips are made using 90-nanometer process technology on 300-millimeter wafers. Samsung has also begun mass producing 512-megabit mobile DRAM chips using 90-nanometer process. Analysts said Samsung's shift to these types of chips will not only help boost profitability at the firm, but should also help its competitors. "The reason why the DDR2 price is firming up is because Samsung has reduced production there," said BNP's Yu. "Samsung not being aggressive in the commodity market means good news for commodity DRAM makers." Early Tuesday, the average spot price of a 512-megabit double data rate 2 chip that runs at 533 megahertz rose 0.4% from Monday to US$4.64, according to DRAMeXchange, an online chip clearinghouse. Kim at Samsung said he forecasts the rise in DDR2 chip prices to last throughout the first quarter as chipset shortages have eased, accelerating the industry's transition to speedier DDR2 chips. Samsung said it plans to allocate about 50% of its total wafer capacity on DRAM chips this year and roughly 43% for NAND chips, signaling that the company will continue balance it memory-chip product portfolio depending on market conditions. Samsung has also forecast global NAND flash memory bit growth - a measure of volume growth - of 200% this year, while it projects 35% bit growth for DRAMs. Table Of Average Weekly Spot Prices Jan 17 Jan 10 Jan 3 Dec 27 Dec 20 256 Mb SDRAM $3.25 $3.25 $3.27 $3.27 $3.29 256 Mb DDR-333 $2.34 $2.30 $2.25 $2.25 $2.25 256 Mb DDR-400 $2.34 $2.24 $2.11 $2.10 $2.06 512 Mb DDR-400 $4.49 $4.44 $4.14 $4.12 $4.00 512 Mb DDR2-533 $4.52 $4.15 $3.75 $3.73 $3.72 1 Gb NAND $7.72 $7.69 $7.56 $7.58 $7.58 2 Gb NAND $14.78 $15.16 $15.31 $15.21 $14.78 4 Gb NAND $21.52 $23.63 $25.36 $26.29 $26.09 8 Gb NAND $38.41 $41.77 $42.12 $44.41 $44.19 Sources - brokers, module makers, DRAMeXchange Note: Prices in this table represent the average for the entire week, not for a single day