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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (44786)	4/3/1999 12:17:00 PM
From: phbolton	Respond to of 53903

Dataquest Revises Top Chip-Supplier Growth Downward (04/01/99, 12:46 p.m. ET) By Staff, Semiconductor Business News techweb.com A revision of semiconductor market growth estimates by Dataquest shows 1998 was a little worse than previously thought for most of the industry's top 10 chip suppliers. In the revised 1998 ranking released Wednesday, only Intel and Samsung Electronics have slightly higher growth rates than in Dataquest's preliminary estimates released in early January. The revised ranking also knocked Siemens' Semiconductor Group out of the top 10 to the 11th place with $3.757 billion in chip revenue last year, an increase of 9.2 percent from $3.441 billion in 1997. Siemens' revenue growth was revised downward from a preliminary 12.4 percent estimate by San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest, but the German chip maker's sales growth was still the highest among the world's largest semiconductor suppliers. In Datquest's new top 10 ranking, only Intel, Philips, and ST Microelectronics had an increase in revenue in 1998 over 1997. Intel's growth rate was revised slightly higher to 4.8 percent instead of 4.3 percent in the preliminary estimates released in the first week of the year. Philips' semiconductor sales were nearly flat at 0.1 percent, revised down from 1.4 percent in the preliminary ranking. ST Microelectronics sales grew 4.4 percent, instead of 7 percent. Overall, chip industry revenue fell 8.5 percent to $134.8 billion from $147.2 billion in 1997, according to the new Dataquest estimates. The decline was the industry's worst drop since 1985, when sales fell 15.6 percent after PC shipments did not meet forecasts and chip makers had ramped up too much production volume. In 1998, falling average selling prices on ICs -- especially DRAM chips -- hit the chip industry hard as a result of a production glut worldwide. "The overcapacity in DRAM spread to other product categories and dragged most ASPs down," said Mary Olsson, director and principal analyst for Dataquest's Semiconductors Worldwide program. "Demand for products remain strong throughout the year, and in most product categories, unit shipments continues to increase. It's these continuous unit increases the industry hopes will fill capacity this year and enable it to get back to revenue growth."