John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Chip Sector: No Double Dipping!

So much for the semiconductor industry’s predicted late-2009 recovery.

Annual world-wide sales of semiconductor chips declined for the first time since 2001, according to new metrics from the Semiconductor Industry Association. Chip sales in 2008 slipped 2.8 percent to $255.6 billion, with sales in December alone plummeting a grotesque 16.6 percent to $22.3 billion (click on chart below).

“The global economic recession severely dampened semiconductor sales in the fourth quarter of 2008, historically a strong quarter for the industry,” George Scalise, president of the SIA, said in a statement. “Weakening demand for the major drivers of semiconductor sales–including automotive products, personal computers, cell phones, and corporate information technology products–resulted in a sharp drop in industry sales that affected nearly all product lines. Once again, the steepest revenue declines were in the memory sector where price pressure more than offset significant growth in total bit shipments…. The industry is currently facing an unprecedented period of uncertainty.”

And that’s grim news. Because the semiconductor sector is typically among the first industries to recover ahead of a broader market turnaround. This latest report suggests a recovery is likely much farther off than we’d hoped.

Twitter’s Tanking

December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

2013 Was a Good Year for Chromebooks

December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work