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To: etchmeister who wrote (5709)	4/11/2008 11:01:28 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

UPDATE 2-TSMC Q1 sales up versus year ago, seen improving Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:47am EDT Last year it was inventories - now it's recession. But how are we going to get rid of pussy whipped day traders and an analyst community that feeds them? (Recasts with comments and details) By Baker Li TAIPEI, April 10 (Reuters) - Top contract chip maker TSMC (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) rounded out the quarter with a 21 percent rise in March sales versus a year ago, when the Taiwan firm's clients cleared out excess inventories in a downcycle. First-quarter sales grew by a third from a year ago but declined from the fourth quarter and fell slightly below market expectations as weakness in the global economy hit sales of chips that go with PCs and other consumer gadgets. After a bright fourth quarter, analysts say a stronger Taiwan dollar also hurt first-quarter sales and profit margins of TSMC (TSM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and rival UMC (2303.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) (UMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which sell the bulk of their chips to U.S. clients, including Texas Instruments (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research). But the technology industry, including the chip foundry market, is likely to regain momentum from the current quarter, said Kevin Yang, president of Taiwan's Paradigm Asset Management Co Ltd, which overseas T$30 billion in client assets. "The rising Taiwan dollar was a factor in the first quarter but the impact should be easing gradually and companies are also hedging," Yang said. "Some inventories of chips and computers have been digested recently, so it is quite possible to see a rebound in the PC and mobile phone markets soon." Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) posted unconsolidated sales of T$26.56 billion ($877 million) last month, 21 percent higher than a year earlier, the Taiwan company said on Thursday, without giving an explanation. Continued...

To: etchmeister who wrote (5709)	4/16/2008 12:11:28 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

Wallstreet is shitting bricks. Hey keep that crude above $110; the Iraq war was the perfect leverage/spark a run on commodities. Amazing how one guy can run the US of A into the ground in such little time. Yeah right Germany declared war on Poland because Poland was threatening Germany... April 15, 2008 1:34 PM PDT Intel posts healthy Q1, ups forecast for Q2 Posted by Tom Krazit \| Post a comment Updated 4 p.m. PDT with executive comments from Intel's conference call. Intel's first-quarter earnings should go a long way toward reassuring the tech industry that the world is not coming to an end. The chipmaker reported revenue of $9.7 billion, up 9 percent from the same period last year and a little better than Wall Street analysts were expecting. Net income was $1.4 billion, or 25 cents a share, in line with the company's revised expectations after realizing its flash memory business went in the tank for the quarter. But in Intel's regular PC and server chip business, things are looking pretty good. "Our first quarter results demonstrate a strengthening core business and a solid global market environment," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, in a press release. Those words will come as a relief to those who follow Intel as a bellwether of the technology industry. The first quarter is always slower compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year, coming off the holiday season. Revenue in both Intel's Digital Enterprise Group and Mobility Group was down compared to the fourth quarter, but DEG processor revenue was up 16 percent compared to last year's first quarter, and mobility processor revenue was up 12 percent. DEG consists of chips for servers and business PCs, while the mobility group owns Intel's Centrino and Core 2 Duo efforts. Server processors, particularly in the U.S., were strong in the first quarter, Otellini said on a conference call following the release of Intel's numbers. Any concern about PC shipments to Wall Street--one of the PC and server industry's best customers--in the face of the credit crunch were offset by strong server sales to that group, he said. Server sales were also strong as companies like Google and Amazon continue to expand massive data centers to enable concepts like cloud computing, Otellini said. He noted that Intel is selling components directly to these companies, which isn't a new channel for Intel but might have been expanded in recent months. On the PC side, notebook growth has been so strong, and desktop growth so weak, that Otellini now expects the notebook/desktop crossover to happen this year. Notebook shipments weren't expected to make up the majority of PC shipments until 2009, but Intel thinks that strong growth combined with interest in low-cost "Netbooks" could make that milestone happen this year. Left unsaid in much of Otellini's commentary was the dismal situation over at Intel's only main competitor, AMD. The smaller chip company is laying off 10 percent of its workforce after seeing weak demand across all parts of its business, in contrast to Intel's rosy outlook. I'm left wondering if Otellini would be so confident about the global macroeconomic environment if AMD were in any better shape. AMD's quad-core server chip, Barcelona, has just started to arrive to end users after a year-long delay, and Intel has a much better position in the notebook segment, as well. AMD will report its results on Thursday, and we'll get a better picture of its plans for the rest of the year then. There was one thorn in Intel's side during the quarter, that woeful flash memory business. Intel sold off its NOR flash memory assets in forming a new company called Numonyx with STMicroelectronics during the quarter, but it's still subject to the volatile NAND flash market through a joint venture with Micron. Intel and Micron are going to push out the construction of a new chip plant in Singapore as a result of the current oversupply situation, Otellini said. Intel is assuming that oversupply will last all year, said Stacy Smith, Intel's chief financial officer. The real upside to Intel's results was its guidance for the second quarter, which exceeded analyst expectations. Intel is predicting revenue between $9 billion and $9.6 billion, the midpoint of which is higher than previous expectations of $9.2 billion. The second quarter is generally the slowest period of the year for chip companies. Intel's shares rose 8 percent in after-hours trading.

To: etchmeister who wrote (5709)	4/17/2008 1:39:04 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

Memory pricing appears to stabilize; MLC NAND contract shoed some nice gains. NAND flash contract prices show long-awaited upward trend Printer friendly Related stories Comments Email to a friend Latest news Josephine Lien, Taipei; Esther Lam, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 16 April 2008] After news about production cuts or delayed expansion at major NAND flash makers, the corresponding price trend is showing a long-awaited upward trend. According to figures posted by DRAMeXchange, prices of all mainstream multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash (except for 4Gb) all enjoyed a minimum 5% sequential gain in the first half of April. The price drop in the single-level cell (SLC) segment also narrowed down. Regarding the demand and supply status, DRAMeXchange projects that oversupply will remain in the second quarter, but the market will gradually move to equilibrium in the third quarter. Contract prices are expected to stabilize in the near term due to effects from news of reduction in supply. Mainstream SLC NAND flash contract prices, 2008 (US$) Date 16Gb (2Gbx8) Change 8Gb(1024Mbx8) Change 4Gb(512Mbx8) Change 2Gb (256Mbx8) Change 1Gb (128Mbx8) Change 1H Jan 21.08 NA 10.70 NA 5.18 NA 3.14 NA 2.10 NA 2H Jan 21.08 0.00% 10.70 0.00% 5.18 0.00% 3.14 0.00% 2.10 0.00% 1H Feb 21.08 0.00% 10.70 0.00% 5.14 (4.30%) 3.20 (3.20%) 2.10 0.00% 2H Feb 20.78 (1.40%) 10.37 0.00% 4.98 0.00% 2.96 (5.00%) 2.04 (2.90%) 1H Mar 19.00 (8.57%) 9.22 (11.09%) 4.61 (7.43%) 2.90 (2.03%) 1.90 (6.86%) 2H Mar 18.00 (5.26%) 7.98 (13.45%) 4.17 (9.54%) 2.81 (3.10%) 1.81 (4.74%) 1H Apr 17.44 (3.11%) 7.86 (1.50%) 4.04 (3.12%) 2.8 (0.36%) 1.86 2.76% Source: DRAMeXchange, compiled by Digitimes, April 2008 Mainstream MLC NAND flash contract prices, 2008 (US$) Date 32Gb (4Gbx8) Change 16Gb (2Gbx8) Change 8Gb (1024Mbx8) Change 4Gb (512Mbx8) Change 1H Jan 12.12 NA 6.24 NA 3.34 NA 2.74 NA 2H Jan 12.12 0.00% 6.24 0.00% 3.34 0.00% 2.74 0.00% 1H Feb 12.12 0.00% 6.20 (0.64%) 3.34 0.00% 2.72 (0.73%) 2H Feb 11.7 (3.47%) 5.80 (6.45%) 3.15 (5.69%) 2.50 (8.09%) 1HMar 11.32 (3.25%) 5.54 (4.48%) 2.98 (5.40%) 2.39 (4.40%) 2H Mar 10.80 (4.59%) 5.40 (2.53%) 2.76 (7.38%) 2.08 (12.97%) 1H Apr 11.76 8.89% 5.72 5.93% 2.95 6.88% 2.04 (1.92%) Source: DRAMeXchange, compiled by Digitimes, April 2008