Tag Archives: semiconductors

I meet Rabelais in Jericho

Posted on October 27, 2009 | 1 comment

AT the Mind shop in Walton Street, Jericho, today I rediscovered an edition of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais – a first limited edition of 750 copies, my copy is 411. It’s a very beautiful set of two volumes.

I snagged it. It only cost 20 quid. I think that I will have to contribute to Mind more than I take from it.

Let me give you another example of my awful egoism. I won a bottle of boiled sweets in a central Oxford shop – the question was to guess the number of sweets. I guessed 93. I was right. As the lass said, not bad for a 50 pence donation to a charity. I’d just been to the dentist.  I should have banged in another two quid to the charity, at least.

I have this notion that I am taking more out of the world than I am giving. I blame the semiconductor companies. They’re easy to blame.  I guess I’d better go back and give some more money to Mind. ♦

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Semi industry has $3 billion of excess stock

Posted on March 5, 2008 | Leave a comment

MARKET RESEARCH FIRM Isuppli reckons there’s over $3 billion worth of excess inventory – that is to stay unsold stocks – swilling around in various factories and warehouses worldwide.
That’s not as bad as the $6 billion plus lying around in the first Q of 2006, but it’s certainly not good news for the semi industry.
The fab folk, reckoned Isuppli, are doing more to control that, this quarter, by cutting down on expansion and controlling costs and production.
As usual, the semi industry is a matter of oversupply or undersupply – a problem all factories and fabs have, depending on demand.
The industry is now apparently happy with a CAGR of seven per cent, rather than the 27 per cent CAGR it enjoyed 20 years ago.
The analysts from Isuppli reckon that revenue will decline by 7.5 per cent, compared to Q4 of last year. They have consulted their crystal balls, and reckon the second quarter will somewhat mitigate Q1’s slowness.
Still, you can imagine the salesmen gazing at a pile of chips that haven’t yet found a place in the sun and wondering about their bonuses. ♦

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