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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerome who wrote (1286)	5/20/2014 7:59:15 AM
From: Jerome	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26764

Kirk,....here is one big reason that companies park cash overseas. Consider that a company has a tax liability of a billion dollars if all their cash stayed in the US. And their taxes would be decreased by a billion dollars if they moved as much cash as possible overseas. Now if the cash were kept in the US it would generate income (fron interest) and that would also be taxable. So instead they move lots cash offshore the result being that no taxes are due. And the corporate balance sheet looks healthier. (because there is an extra billion dollars on the balance sheet). This is an accounting gimick, the CEO's like because it makes them look better. This is not a whole lot different than individuals try to hide cash from the IRS in foreign tax havens to avoid taxes.

To: Jerome who wrote (1286)	5/20/2014 10:34:28 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26764

Wouldn't it be nice if these chips were made in the US? What do you think it would take to get Qualcomm, a CA company, to build its chips in CA? My guess is we'll see pigs fly before it happens. Most likely thing is Qualcomm will buy a foreign company and move out of the US to be closer to its customers, mostly smart phone users outside the US, in a lower tax country. Qualcomm to begin volume production of 8-core Snapdragon 615 chips soon Cage Chao, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 20 May 2014] http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20140519PD202.html Qualcomm will begin volume production of its first 8-core CPU, the Snapdragon 615, soon and plans to unveil its 64-bit 8-core 810-series and 6-core 808-series products before year-end 2014, the chipset vendor announced at the recently concluded Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) 2014 held in Shenzhen, China. The Snapdragon 615 will target the mid-range smartphone segment, while the 64-bit-enabled Snapdragon 810- and 808-series CPUs are designated for high-end smartphones, supporting 4G technology. Both the Snapdragon 810 and 808 chips will be fabricated at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using the advanced 20nm process. Smartphones powered by 4G and 64-bit chipset solutions are likely to lead in the race for hardware specifications in the smartphone space in 2014, a reminiscence of the leading market position enjoyed by 8-core CPUs in 2013, according to industry sources. The 8-core CPUs have been in volume production for over six months, with prices of 8-core smartphone now falling under CNY1,000 (US$163), and therefore the adoption of 8-core chips may not be able to effectively lift up smartphone prices in the end market, according to industry sources. Qualcomm has incorporated its 8-core Snapdragon 810-series chips with 64-bit and 4G technologies, apparently setting new hardware specifications for high-end smartphones, commented the sources.