Semiconductor and spending outlook: slow recovery underway and fundamental changes underfoot

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, chip manufacturers appear to be getting healthier, but are still cautious in capital spending as the oversupply conditions in the industry appear to be lingering. While the "technology buying" mode is still is place, some parts of the world are beginning to spend on capacity again. Is this trend toward capacity buying to continue? When will the inflection point occur for the industry to enter the next boom? What is the impact of the industry's transition to the 128-Mbit DRAM in light of Rambus' failure to develop the market this year? What is the outlook for end-market demand for semiconductors? Will fabless semiconductor companies face another capacity shortage? The author presents Dataquest's outlook and forecasts for these markets, and present details about industry capacity and the likely road to recovery. In addition the competitive dynamics in the chip world have changed dramatically over the last several years. Fuhs explores the key reasons for these changes and how they could affect the manufacturing infrastructure in the next decade and directions technology trends may or may not accelerate.