The global semiconductor revenue is on course to total $212 billion in 2009, which is a 17.1 percent decline from 2008 revenue of $255 billion reveals a report. The report by research and analysis firm Gartner says that the projection is better than the second quarter projections of a 22.4 percent decline, which shows signs of recovery in the market.
Some of the major semiconductor vendors have reported positive second quarter sequential revenue growth. Intel posted 12 percent revenue growth, while Samsung announced its revenue increased by 30 percent and Qualcomm reported a 35.7 percent increase in its mobile chip sales. "The semiconductor market has performed better than expected, as was evident when second quarter semiconductor revenue increased 17 percent in sequential sales," said Bryan Lewis, Research Vice President at Gartner.
The increasing demand for products using semiconductor was the key driver behind the growth in the market. "Consumers reacted strongly to reduced PC and LCD TV pricing as price elasticity was amazing. The industry also benefited from the China stimulus package that worked remarkably well to boost short-term demand. Governments worldwide took action quickly and extensively to avoid a meltdown and it worked," added Lewis.
Though, the outlook for 2009 has improved, Gartner also points out that all major segments of the semiconductor market are expected to report double-digit revenue declines this year. The application-specific standard product (ASSP) - the largest segment in the semiconductor market - will touch $57.2 billion in 2009, a decline of 16.5 percent over last year's revenue. The memory market is predicted to total $41 billion with a 13.5 percent decline and the microcomponents segment is forecasted to reach $39.4 billion in 2009, a 19.2 percent decline from 2008.
According to Lewis, foundries are concerned that demand may drop off more than seasonal in the fourth quarter, and it may carry into first quarter 2010. Gartner's most likely scenario is a negative five percent growth in the first quarter of 2010, as customers take a break and absorb all the devices they purchased over the previous three quarters.
Agencies
Showing posts with label drop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drop. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Had Apple fired 1,600 from retail stores?
Apple has fired some 1,600 employees from its chain of retail stores due to slackening consumer demand, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The job cuts were referenced in a securities filing by Apple Thursday in which the company said it had 14,000 full-time equivalent employees in its retail division as of March 28, down from the 15,600 as of the end of December.
The move came as Apple's recent earnings report showed a drop in sales for its Mac computer line, which is the biggest earner at the stores.
According to the earnings statement, the average revenue per Apple store fell about 17 percent to $5.9 million in the quarter, while the retail division's operating income was also down due to the "challenging consumer-spending environment," Apple said.
Agencies
The job cuts were referenced in a securities filing by Apple Thursday in which the company said it had 14,000 full-time equivalent employees in its retail division as of March 28, down from the 15,600 as of the end of December.
The move came as Apple's recent earnings report showed a drop in sales for its Mac computer line, which is the biggest earner at the stores.
According to the earnings statement, the average revenue per Apple store fell about 17 percent to $5.9 million in the quarter, while the retail division's operating income was also down due to the "challenging consumer-spending environment," Apple said.
Agencies
Friday, January 23, 2009
Due to drop in profits, Ericsson to cut 5,000 jobs
Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson on Wednesday said profits dropped 31 per cent in the fourth quarter, citing restructuring charges and weaker handset sales, and said it would slash 5,000 jobs.
Ericsson said net profit fell to 3.9 billion kronor ($465 million) from 5.6 billion a year earlier.
It reported ``a dramatic drop'' in the contribution from its handset unit, Sony Ericsson. The joint venture with Japan's Sony last week said it had swung to a fourth-quarter loss of euro187 million ($243 million).
For the full year 2008, it posted a profit of 11.3 billion kronor, nearly half the 21.8 billion kronor reported for 2007.
Boosted by a weakening krona, Ericsson's sales in the fourth quarter rose 23 per cent to 67 billion kronor, from 54.5 billion kronor a year earlier.
The share soared nearly 11 per cent to 62 kronor in Stockholm stock market opening.
The world's leading maker of mobile broadband infrastructure said it released the fourth-quarter results a week ahead of schedule because it believed they exceeded market expectations.
In a statement, Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg described his company's performance in 2008 as ``solid,'' pointing out the sales and the operating margins, excluding Sony Ericsson. He warned however that the financial downturn makes it ``difficult to more precisely predict to what extent consumer telecom spending will be affected, and how operators will act.''
The company said it needs to widen its savings program as the global financial crisis continues to pressure the industry, tough competition and the technical development. That would mean cutting 5,000 jobs, or more than 6 per cent of its 79,000-strong work force, Ericsson said.
The Stockholm-based company said it expected restructuring charges of 6 billion-7 billion kronor, yielding annual savings of around 10 billion kronor by the second half of the year.
In a webcast news conference with analysts and journalists, Svanberg said ``we're doing this of course because of the uncertainty in the market.''
For 2009, he said it will be a priority for the company to stay close to its customers to understand their behavior and needs, adding his company is also preparing for tougher times to be able to defend its margins and extend its leadership.
Agencies
Ericsson said net profit fell to 3.9 billion kronor ($465 million) from 5.6 billion a year earlier.
It reported ``a dramatic drop'' in the contribution from its handset unit, Sony Ericsson. The joint venture with Japan's Sony last week said it had swung to a fourth-quarter loss of euro187 million ($243 million).
For the full year 2008, it posted a profit of 11.3 billion kronor, nearly half the 21.8 billion kronor reported for 2007.
Boosted by a weakening krona, Ericsson's sales in the fourth quarter rose 23 per cent to 67 billion kronor, from 54.5 billion kronor a year earlier.
The share soared nearly 11 per cent to 62 kronor in Stockholm stock market opening.
The world's leading maker of mobile broadband infrastructure said it released the fourth-quarter results a week ahead of schedule because it believed they exceeded market expectations.
In a statement, Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg described his company's performance in 2008 as ``solid,'' pointing out the sales and the operating margins, excluding Sony Ericsson. He warned however that the financial downturn makes it ``difficult to more precisely predict to what extent consumer telecom spending will be affected, and how operators will act.''
The company said it needs to widen its savings program as the global financial crisis continues to pressure the industry, tough competition and the technical development. That would mean cutting 5,000 jobs, or more than 6 per cent of its 79,000-strong work force, Ericsson said.
The Stockholm-based company said it expected restructuring charges of 6 billion-7 billion kronor, yielding annual savings of around 10 billion kronor by the second half of the year.
In a webcast news conference with analysts and journalists, Svanberg said ``we're doing this of course because of the uncertainty in the market.''
For 2009, he said it will be a priority for the company to stay close to its customers to understand their behavior and needs, adding his company is also preparing for tougher times to be able to defend its margins and extend its leadership.
Agencies
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Will oil, gas spending drop in 2009?
Global spending on oil and gas exploration and production will shrink 12 per cent to $400 billion in 2009 as the steep slide in energy prices and tight credit markets reverse a six-year trend of rising budgets, analysts at Barclays Capital said on Friday.
Those spending cuts threat to curtail growth in oil and gas output, potentially supporting energy prices that have been in a freefall since hitting peaks in July. A steady stream of energy companies have been announcing budget cuts for 2009 as the price of oil slumped this week to its lowest levels in 4-1/2 years, and Barclays said that could be pushing spending even lower than its report showed.
Another analyst agreed, saying companies were being prudent during the economic crunch to protect cash reserves they had built up during the four-year run-up in energy prices. "My guess is the (report) is probably overstating what is going to be spent," said analyst James Halloran of National City Private Client Group, which manages $26 billon in assets.
Analysts said that while the drop in spending threatens to slow down growth in world energy production, the impact depends on how the smaller budgets are used. "It may be that a combination of higher utilization of more efficient rigs and lower costs of drilling will equal or more than compensate for the decline in the absolute amount of capital devoted to upstream expenditures," said Edward Morse, chief economist at LCM Commodities.
He added that oil firms may be negotiating with their suppliers and contractors to lower project costs. The soft energy market has also darkened the world oil supply picture by leading OPEC to announce three rounds of cuts that would trim 4.2 million barrels per day of oil production, or 5 percent of global output.
Spending in the United States is expected to show the sharpest drop, falling 26 percent to $79 billion from the 2008 mark of $106 billion, Barclays analysts James Crandell and James West said in their semiannual report based on a survey of oil and gas companies.
In the United States, Chesapeake Energy, the largest US natural gas producer, is expected to cut spending by 51 percent, the analysts said, while Devon Energy is likely to cut by 44 percent, EOG Resources by 34 percent and SandRidge Energy by 78 percent.
Oil prices peaked above $147 a barrel in July, but have tumbled more than 75 percent since then to trade near $35.75 a barrel as economic weakness hits fuel demand. Shares of oilfield service companies face the greatest risks from the cuts in spending, since it is their drilling rigs, maintenance operations and other activities that energy producers reduce when budgets are slashed.
But those stocks have already been battered, Halloran said, and may see only a limited impact from new reports of spending cuts. The Philadelphia Oil Service index, which includes companies like Schlumberger Ltd, Halliburton Co and Transocean Ltd, has fallen 68 percent since July.
Still, the Barclays analysts said they recommended shares of Weatherford International, Halliburton, Cameron International, Oceaneering International, Tidewater, Dril-Quip, Core Laboratories NV as the best sector bets.
Regions under pressure
Overall, companies' Canadian spending budgets will fall 23 percent to $22 billion, the lowest level since 1999. Husky Energy is likely to cut its spending 47 percent in Canada, while Devon's budget there will fall 71 percent, Talisman Energy by 47 percent and EnCana Corp by 16 percent.
Spending in the United States by Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, is likely to drop 17 percent, or $450 million, to $2.15 billion, while its Canadian budget will shrink 14 percent to $375 million. Its spending elswhere will rise 14 percent to $14.98 billion.
The overall drop in spending outside North America is expected to be a more moderate 6 percent to $300 billion. Russia, the UK North Sea, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela were expected to see some of the sharpest spending declines, while the rest of the Middle East, North Africa and Mexico were likely to post increases.
In 2008, spending rose about 22 percent globally, the analysts said. The analysts said the budget forecasts were based on average prices of $58 per barrel for oil and $6.35 per thousand cubic feet for natural gas.
Source; Agencies
Those spending cuts threat to curtail growth in oil and gas output, potentially supporting energy prices that have been in a freefall since hitting peaks in July. A steady stream of energy companies have been announcing budget cuts for 2009 as the price of oil slumped this week to its lowest levels in 4-1/2 years, and Barclays said that could be pushing spending even lower than its report showed.
Another analyst agreed, saying companies were being prudent during the economic crunch to protect cash reserves they had built up during the four-year run-up in energy prices. "My guess is the (report) is probably overstating what is going to be spent," said analyst James Halloran of National City Private Client Group, which manages $26 billon in assets.
Analysts said that while the drop in spending threatens to slow down growth in world energy production, the impact depends on how the smaller budgets are used. "It may be that a combination of higher utilization of more efficient rigs and lower costs of drilling will equal or more than compensate for the decline in the absolute amount of capital devoted to upstream expenditures," said Edward Morse, chief economist at LCM Commodities.
He added that oil firms may be negotiating with their suppliers and contractors to lower project costs. The soft energy market has also darkened the world oil supply picture by leading OPEC to announce three rounds of cuts that would trim 4.2 million barrels per day of oil production, or 5 percent of global output.
Spending in the United States is expected to show the sharpest drop, falling 26 percent to $79 billion from the 2008 mark of $106 billion, Barclays analysts James Crandell and James West said in their semiannual report based on a survey of oil and gas companies.
In the United States, Chesapeake Energy, the largest US natural gas producer, is expected to cut spending by 51 percent, the analysts said, while Devon Energy is likely to cut by 44 percent, EOG Resources by 34 percent and SandRidge Energy by 78 percent.
Oil prices peaked above $147 a barrel in July, but have tumbled more than 75 percent since then to trade near $35.75 a barrel as economic weakness hits fuel demand. Shares of oilfield service companies face the greatest risks from the cuts in spending, since it is their drilling rigs, maintenance operations and other activities that energy producers reduce when budgets are slashed.
But those stocks have already been battered, Halloran said, and may see only a limited impact from new reports of spending cuts. The Philadelphia Oil Service index, which includes companies like Schlumberger Ltd, Halliburton Co and Transocean Ltd, has fallen 68 percent since July.
Still, the Barclays analysts said they recommended shares of Weatherford International, Halliburton, Cameron International, Oceaneering International, Tidewater, Dril-Quip, Core Laboratories NV as the best sector bets.
Regions under pressure
Overall, companies' Canadian spending budgets will fall 23 percent to $22 billion, the lowest level since 1999. Husky Energy is likely to cut its spending 47 percent in Canada, while Devon's budget there will fall 71 percent, Talisman Energy by 47 percent and EnCana Corp by 16 percent.
Spending in the United States by Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, is likely to drop 17 percent, or $450 million, to $2.15 billion, while its Canadian budget will shrink 14 percent to $375 million. Its spending elswhere will rise 14 percent to $14.98 billion.
The overall drop in spending outside North America is expected to be a more moderate 6 percent to $300 billion. Russia, the UK North Sea, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela were expected to see some of the sharpest spending declines, while the rest of the Middle East, North Africa and Mexico were likely to post increases.
In 2008, spending rose about 22 percent globally, the analysts said. The analysts said the budget forecasts were based on average prices of $58 per barrel for oil and $6.35 per thousand cubic feet for natural gas.
Source; Agencies
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