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: etchmeister who wrote (19207)	5/31/2006 8:53:27 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Survey Suggests Higher IT Spending In 2006 Mary Crane, 05.31.06, 8:31 AM ET Information-technology spending budgets are likely to increase, on average, 5.2%, year-over-year, in 2006 and 4.8% in 2007, according to a recent Merrill Lynch survey of 75 U.S. and 25 European chief information officers. Overall IT spending growth should increase 7% to 8% in 2006, wrote Merrill analyst Richard Farmer, driven by a healthier small- and medium-business market which, according to distributors like Ingram Micro (nyse: IM - news - people ) and Tech Data (nasdaq: TECD - news - people ), have outpaced overall IT spending over the last couple of years. So what are the CIOs spending their bigger budgets on? Farmer said the highest-growth areas included laptops, applications software, networked storage, networking equipment and security. The survey also found that 89% of the respondents said Apple’s Boot Camp, which allows Windows XP to run on Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people )-based Mac computers, won’t impact future Mac purchases. The other 11% said they will change their spending plans less than 1%. The bottom line, Farmer said, was that most CIOs are unwilling to pay a premium for Mac computers. In the overall server market, the survey found, Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ), IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) and Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) were winners over Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ). CIOs perceived these companies’ products to be more power efficient -- a quality 28% of the survey respondents said mattered in their purchasing decisions -- than Sun. Farmer said Sun’s poor showing was likely due to the recent introduction of its more power-efficient platforms like the new T1 Niagara servers, which he said were still in the "tire-kicking stage." But the survey offered some good news for Sun Microsystems. About 75% of the survey respondents said they think Sun’s Solaris operating system is better on x86 servers than Linux. "Although it’s too early to call a trend, we have heard anecdotally of instances where Solaris is replacing Linux," Farmer said. "This would be bullish for Sun if it became widespread." Finally, in the ongoing market-share battle between number-one chipmaker IBM and its number-two rival, AMD, Farmer said 80% of the CIOs surveyed expected no change in their chip preference for server purchcases. Still, a weighted average of the survey responses showed a small 1.4% shift in AMD’s favor.

To: etchmeister who wrote (19207)	5/31/2006 12:48:27 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Toshiba to build 200-mm wafer fab Mark LaPedus EE Times (05/31/2006 11:46 AM EDT) SAN JOSE, Calif. — Toshiba Corp. Wednesday (May 31) said that it plans to build a 200-mm wafer fab at a cost of over 50 billion yen ($450 million), according to Reuters. The plant is designed to make power semiconductors. The plant, to be located in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture, is scheduled to break ground in September. Production is slated for the third quarter of calendar 2007. The fab has a total capacity of 60,000 wafers a month, which is aimed for 2011.

To: etchmeister who wrote (19207)	6/1/2006 10:30:34 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Manufacturing Activity Expands in May Thursday June 1, 10:17 am ET By Eileen Alt Powell, AP Business Writer Manufacturing Activity Expands in May, but at Slower-Than-Expected Rate NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's manufacturing sector expanded in May, but at a slower rate than Wall Street analysts expected. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group based in Tempe, Ariz., said Thursday that its manufacturing index registered 54.4 in May, down from 57.3 the month before and below the 56.5 reading that analysts had anticipated. A reading of 50 or more indicates expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction. The May figure represented the 36th consecutive month of growth. Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the ISM's survey committee, said in a statement accompanying the report that "the slower growth is evidenced by a significant loss of momentum in the last four months as the new orders index has slipped." He added that rising prices, driven by increases in raw materials, remain a concern. The index is watched closely because it is among the first measures of the previous month's economic activity.