Smoke, smole and smoke again - INQ cognitive dissonance correspondent
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Chip sales were not so bad last year
WHILE MANY IT companies moaned about how bad things were last year, chipmakers apparently did okay.
According to a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide semiconductor sales amounted to $226.3 billion in 2009. While that was down nine per cent from $248.6 billion in 2008 it was a lot better than expected.
Naysayers and purveyors of doom thought that the industry would only manage $219.7 billion.
George Scalise, president of SIA said that 2009 turned out to be a better year for the global semiconductor industry than expected.
One of the ways they got around the problem was to concentrate on inventories throughout the supply chain. This mitigated the impact of the worldwide economic downturn and positioned the industry for growth as the global economy got better.
Things are clearly getting better now as global chip sales in December 2009 were $22.4 billion, up 29 per cent from $17.4 billion in December 2008, the SIA said.
What appears to have saved the day was demand for PCs, cellphones and consumer electronics, which account for 60 per cent of total semiconductor consumption.
China and India are the regions that are driving demand. Apparently they can't get enough of consumer items such as handsets and computers and are spending small fortunes on wired and wireless infrastructure. µ
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Even if you don't like AMD in the slightest, you should be glad they exist. If AMD goes totally belly up, then Intel prices will skyrocket.
Besides, all things considered, AMD has proven time and time again that it is the better company. Intel has way more money, but AMD has way more innovation.
Given enough time, I'm sure the underdog will make a comeback.
... for the moment when today's pro-console industry destroys PC game entertainment completely. They you'll see a solid drop in sales.
Not completely but its a chain-reaction industry, and on top of all a good chunk of R&D will go away and/or become too expensive. That in turn means slow growth and all that comes with it.
Consumers will grab it and business will buy more Intel powered servers and desktops. I wish Intel Beckton is more affordable so more companies will buy it and make no room for AMD's Magny Cours.