Chip sales growth could be less than expected in 2007, according to El Segundo-based market research firm iSuppli Corp.
ISuppli lowered its outlook, citing plunging prices for memory chips, a glut in supplies and weak sales in the first quarter.
All of that added up to a 6% decline from the fourth quarter, more than the 5% sequential decline iSuppli had predicted.
Chip sales are expected to grow at a 6% clip this year.
ISuppli previously said it expected 8% sales growth.
Worldwide chips sales are expected to top $276 billion in 2007, up from about $261 billion last year, iSuppli said.
Even with the lowered outlook, iSuppli said the overall market for chips still is healthy, driven by sales to makers of laptops and cell phones.
“The end equipment market is still vital, with PC and handset unit growth expected to exceed 10%,” iSuppli analyst Gary Grandbois said.
Chip sales should get a boost in the second half of the year as falling prices could ease up, Grandbois said.
“This will allow the semiconductor market to grow at a relatively robust rate of 8% in the second half,” he said.
ISuppli’s outlook for 2008 is for nearly 9% sales growth.
Broadcom Ranks No. 2
Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. came in at No. 2 on a list ranking first-quarter sales by companies that design chips and contract out for their production, according to data by the London-based Fabless Semiconductor Association.
Chipmakers are dubbed “fabless” if they don’t run their own plant, known as a fabrication facility.
The list of 10 fabless chipmakers saw sales fall 8% from the fourth quarter, the report showed.
Sales were down only slightly from a year ago.
The top 10 companies had combined revenue of about $6.5 billion, accounting for more than half of fabless chip sales worldwide.
Here’s the top five by first-quarter sales:
– No. 1 San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., $1.3 billion.
– No. 2 Broadcom Corp., $901 million.
– No. 3 Santa Clara-based Nvidia Corp., $844 million.
– No. 4 Milpitas-based SanDisk Corp., $786 million.
– No. 5 Santa Clara’s Marvell Technology Group Ltd., $635 million.
The top five held their same spots as a year ago, the report showed.
Co-Eds Wanted
The University of California, Irvine, is looking to draw more female students to its School of Information and Computer Sciences, Dean Debra Richardson said last month at the official unveiling of the school’s new home on campus.
The computer school formally dedicated its building with a ceremony attended by local officials, alumni and the school’s namesake benefactor, The Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren.
Previously, the school had been spread out among four buildings, trailers and offices in the nearby University Research Park, which the Irvine Co. owns with UCI.
The hope is that the layout of the new building will enhance learning that appeals more to women, such as collaborative re-search, Richardson said to a crowd of about 500 in one of its lecture halls.
As it stands, women undergrads account for just 15% of freshman enrolled in the computer school last fall, according to a newsletter put out by the school.
The building took three years to complete and was funded by Bren’s $20 million gift to the school a few years ago.
It has about 100,000 square feet of classrooms, offices and labs as well as a big rooftop patio.
Like many of UCI’s buildings, it’s got a modern, airy and industrial design marked by sky lit atriums and exposed concrete floors.
The computer school’s logo got a slick redesign to include Bren’s name in amped up versions of the school’s blue and gold colors.
Bren, a big education supporter, christened the building with a ribbon cutting and speech.
Bren spoke about the true “tests of time and function” that determine the value of a piece of real estate.
“The real satisfaction in a building comes many years later,” he said. “The big question is, ‘Does it really serve the users well? Is it attractive, relevant and important 10, 20 or 50 years later?'”
Bren even tipped his hat,literally, a blue UCI baseball cap,to the Anteater’s baseball team, which saw an unprecedented streak of wins at the nationals that ended with a loss to the Oregon State Beavers.
