Semiconductor industry anticipates slowdown
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are reporting weak demand for electronic equipment production in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The knock-on effect has already backed up throughout the semiconductor supply chain and the electronics industry is set for a sustained reduction in worldwide production, according to Gartner.
Gartner analysts say that weakness in demand is not confined to electronic equipment production or the largest semiconductor vendors. There is broad evidence to show that weak demand has backed-up throughout the semiconductor supply chain, to foundry chip manufacturers and chip packaging, and electronic equipment outsourcing companies.
The analysts list several announcements that support this finding:
* Chip original design manufacturers (ODMs) manufacturing netbook PCs show market consensus that 2008 demand should be lowered by 20% to 8m units.
* Chip manufacturer Linear Technology, which has significant semiconductor distribution revenue, anticipates a sequential decline of up to 20% from 3Q08 revenue.
* Major audio codec supplier Wolfson Microelectronics anticipates that
4Q08 revenue will fall by 24% from 3Q08 revenue estimates.
* Foundry TSMC expects 4Q08 shipments to fall by up to 24% from 3Q08 results, and already has utilisation rates below 75%. However, utilisation rates for chip manufacturers are likely to be around 85% overall.
* Chip packaging company ChipMOS Technologies reported revenue decline of 33% for September.
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