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.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (20647)	6/22/1998 1:55:00 PM
From: Teri Skogerboe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Gottfried, all slightly dated (12 Jun 98) but maybe of interest... (Carl Johnson on the semi-equips) techweb.com Excerpt: Many pundits have been chastised by the investing public for their bearish proclamations. Those who were bullish on the sector are now revising their expectations lower. No one thought we would see weakening device demand. Early this year forecasters projected a flat year for capital spending. Today we hear from large companies that bookings are running 40 percent below plan. Forty percent lower and we are just entering the down phase of device consumption! In the most basic elements on the electronics business we see some very disturbing signs. Last Tuesday, Kemet [KMET] stated that it had cut more than 1,400 jobs because of weakness in demand for capacitors. Orders and bookings are apparently off about 20 percent since the beginning of April. CEO David Maguire said, "The rate of capacitor bookings and shipments has fallen abruptly by about 20 percent from levels at the beginning of the current quarter as OEM and contract manufacturers and distributors correct their inventories." Motorola [MOT], Amp [AMP], Lattice Semiconductor [LSCC] and a host of others are telling us that business is really in the tank. Allow us to go back to the Kemet story for a moment because we believe this story emphasizes the weakness in final demand. The "Fab Rat," Paul Buddendorff, described the news from the passive component industry as, "A bright red light with sirens!" The passive market is to the electronic industry like dirt is to plants -- the foundation of most electronic components. They aren't as flashy as CPUs, DRAMs or graphics chips, they merely characterize the flow of electrical current on a circuit board. In other words, a circuit board does not function to specification without the use of passive components.