Worldwide Semiconductor Sales Projected to Top $300 Billion in 2011

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that the SIA has endorsed the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization’s Autumn 2011 global semiconductor sales forecast, which has projected semiconductor sales to grow to $302 Billion for 2011, reaching the $300 Billion mark for the first time and representing a 1.3 percent growth rate over the record-breaking year in 2010. Worldwide sales for October 2011 remained essentially flat at $25.7 billion, a 0.1 percent decrease from prior month’s sales of $25.8 billion. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.

“The combination of record-breaking sales in 2010 coupled with this year’s forecast topping the $300 Billion mark for the first time is welcome news for both the semiconductor industry and the entire economy,” said Brian Toohey, president, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Despite a challenging global economic environment this year and the natural disasters that have impacted production in Asia, the semiconductor industry has demonstrated impressive resilience. The growing level of semiconductor content embedded across a wide range of consumer, industrial, business and government applications points to continued growth in 2012 and 2013.”

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Evercore Partners Analysts Now Covering ON Semiconductor (ONNN) Stock

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

Equities research analysts at Evercore Partners initiated coverage on shares of ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) in a research note issued to investors on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock.

Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) cut their EPS estimates on shares of ON Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday. They now have a “neutral” rating and a $8.50 price target on the stock. Also, analysts at Citigroup (NYSE: C) downgraded shares of ON Semiconductor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note to investors on Thursday, November 3rd. They now have a $8.00 price target on the stock.

ON Semiconductor Corporation (ON Semiconductor) is a global supplier of power, analog, digital signal processing, mixed signal, advanced logic, data management semiconductors, memory and standard semiconductor components, and integrated circuits. The Company designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of semiconductor components that address the design needs of electronic systems and products. Its power management semiconductor components control, convert, protect and monitor the supply of power to the different elements within a range of electronic devices.

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Triquint Semiconductor Stock Hits New 52-Week Low

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

Triquint Semiconductor (Nasdaq:TQNT) hit a new 52-week low Friday as it is currently trading at $4.64, below its previous 52-week low of $4.66 with 790,259 shares traded as of 10:17 a.m. ET. Average volume has been 6.7 million shares over the past 30 days.

Triquint Semiconductor has a market cap of $832.8 million and is part of the technology sector and electronics industry. Shares are down 59.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. provides radio frequency (RF) solutions and technology for communications, defense, and aerospace companies worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 9.8, equal to the average electronics industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

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Semiconductor Co. InvenSense Opens Up 10.7% Post-IPO

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

Motion processing semiconductor firm InvenSense Inc. (INVN) made modest gains in early trading during its first day of trading as a public company Wednesday.

The company’s shares opened at $8.30 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, up 10.7% from its initial public offering price of $7.50. It sold 10 million shares at the lower end of its expected $7 to $8.50 range.

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., InvenSense makes motion sensing and processing chips for use in consumer electronic devices such as Nintendo Co.’s (7974.OK, NTDOY) Wii, portable video games, smartphones and computer tablets.

The company’s products combine motion sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes with mixed-signal integrated circuits to detect complex motion across multiple axes.

One risk facing InvenSense is its dependence on Nintendo for about 73% of its net revenue in fiscal 2011, which ended in March, and on the Wii, which is declining in sales.

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Cypress Semiconductor backs another start-up

Posted on November 9, 2011 by

San Jose-based Cypress Semiconductor announced Wednesday that it has launched a new subsidiary that hopes to radically transform the way that tiny chips — critical components of the booming smart phone and tablet market — are packaged.

Deca Technologies, a start-up that has labored in “stealth” mode for two years, operates as an independent entitity within Cypress, which has invested about $35 million in the company. Cypress CEO T.J. Rodgers, a legendary personality in the semiconductor industry and Silicon Valley, is the chair of Deca’s board of directors.

Deca’s founder Tim Olson, a veteran of Motorola and Amkor Technologies, served on Cypress’s technical advisory board for over a decade. Packaging is an often overlooked but key part of the semiconductor business that involves encapsulating chips in plastic or metal so they can be attached to circuit boards. Deca — the word is Greek for “ten” — plans to focus on packaging at the wafer level.

“I’m going to talk about why I let Tim con me out of $35 million,” said Rodgers, who hosted a party celebrating Deca’s long-awaited debut at his Woodside home and vineyard Tuesday evening. “Chip scale packaging is a billion dollar industry, and Deca can make it cheaper than competitors.”

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Semiconductor Manufacturing posts 3Q net loss

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. reported a net loss for its first quarter on Monday because of lower revenue.

The company reported a net loss of $87.9 million, or 16 cents per American Depositary share. That’s down from earnings of $30.7 million, or 6 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue fell 24 percent to $306.9 million from $403.8 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 15 cents per share on revenue of $297.9 million, according to a poll by FactSet.

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We’re in a ‘normal downturn’, says Freescale CEO Beyer

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

The semiconductor market is in a downturn driven by falling demand in the US, Asia and Europe, says Rich Beyer, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor.

He believes falling GDPs (gross domestic product) in the economies of the US and European countries is now a major concern for the chip industry.

“Everyone has been worried for the last three to four months,” Beyer, told Electronics Weekly.

“We are in a normal downturn, a demand driven downturn,” said Beyer.

“Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we expect the weakness in the semiconductor market to continue to negatively impact our business,” said Beyer.

Semiconductor tool orders slide below billion-dollar mark in September

Posted on October 21, 2011 by

Awaiting “stability in the overall economic outlook,” semiconductor device makers spent 40.4% less with North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor fab equipment year-over-year in September 2011. The September book-to-bill ratio published by SEMI fell to 0.75.

Worldwide bookings in September 2011 totaled $984.8 million, a 15.3% drop month-to-month, tipping below the billion mark. Year-over-year, bookings fell 40.4% ($1.65 billion in September 2010).

Worldwide billings from North American semiconductor fab tool makers in September 2011 was $1.31 billion, 9.8% less than August and 18.4% below September 2010 billings.

Bookings nearly reached the level last seen in late 2009, noted Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. Myers says that device makers “are investing in advanced technology,” but are waiting out macro-economic uncertainties before making broader investments.

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