The first half of the 2006 industry experts feel the pulse of the trend of semiconductor

Dust again we brushed away the crystal ball, try to force insight in the remainder of the year the semiconductor industry situation. This year could be a turbulent year for the semiconductor industry. With the increase in the number of unknowns, the forecast for the chip industry seems to be adjusted every week. Rising interest rates, high energy costs, material shortages and relentless globalisation continue to confuse industry watchers. The following is our view of the semiconductor industry and the prospects for the second half of 2006.

This time year, chip industry observers have said, unable to agree on which is right.

Some forecasters have raised its forecast for 2006, while some institutions due to PC and consumption sluggish growth and lower forecast. Pacific Crest Securities Inc. analyst Mark Bachman warned: there are still problems in the stock market."

Current analyst forecasts for 2006 IC market growth rate value between 6-11% interval. Two independent research institutions - Future Horizons and Semico Research Corp. forecast is still high, respectively, in 2006 IC market forecast to grow by 20% and around $17% in 2005.

As usual, a lot of uncertainty in the market. The problem is that industry analysts are rarely able to make the right prediction, always based on the current market situation to adjust its prophecy.

A relatively calm and actual predictions come from market research company iSuppli Corp., the IC market forecast growth rate increased by 0.5 percentage points, from 7.4% to 7.9%. According to iSuppli, global IC sales are expected to rise from $237 billion in 2005 to $255 billion 700 million in 2006.

ISuppli company warned that although the demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is also good, but the semiconductor market is not a bright prospect. After the first quarter growth rate is higher than expected, the second half of this year, the market performance will be weak. The second half of the 5% growth rate is lower than the normal seasonal expectations. It warns that inventories are on the rise, and orders growth seems to be weakening.

The factors another concern is that the alleged Apple Computer's next generation iPod launch delays. The product is a key driver for NAND flash memory, MP3 processors and other devices.

IPod but before the news of the delay, after seeing at least the market appeared a danger signal, analysts have already joined the ranks of the pessimist.

The data April downturn prompted the Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. 2006 semiconductor growth forecast reduced by one percentage point to 10%. For 2007, it predicts IC market growth will slow, only 6% more than in 2006.

Handelsbanken Capital Markets in a recently published report predicted that in 2006 the semiconductor market will grow by 5% compared to 2005, down from its previous forecast of 6%. The investment bank attributed the slowdown to a slowdown in the global PC industry.

Handelsbanken forecast May poor sales. It predicts a three month moving average of $19 billion 370 million in chip sales in May, down from $19 billion 600 million in April.

Not all people are so pessimistic. The semiconductor industry cheerleader -- the U.S. semiconductor industry association (SIA) recently raised its forecast for 2006 global semiconductor sales, now it predicts semiconductor sales to grow 9.8% this year to $249 billion, it had predicted growth of $7.9% to $245 billion. SIA said that the main reason for the increase in the mobile phone industry is expected to better than expected chip.

Forecast SIA adjusted for 2006-2009 years, semiconductor sales more optimistic view. SIA said that in 2007 the semiconductor industry will grow by 11% in 2008, an increase of 12% in 2009, an increase of 4%.

Global Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) also raised its forecast for the semiconductor market. According to its spring forecast, the global IC market is expected to grow by 10.1% in 2006 to $250 billion. It also predicts that in 2007 the global semiconductor industry growth rate will rise to 11% in 2008 to 12.8%.

Into the second half of 2006, the electronic design automation (EDA) industry in the past few years that may be as healthy as. The industry, which resumed its two digit growth rate earlier this year, is now preparing for its top priority, the (Design Automation Conference), which is due to be held in.

Qualified rate of problems continue to make chip makers feel headache, and to be able to provide the design for manufacturing (DFM) solution provider, 'a huge amount of money. People often talk about DFM, but it's elusive. The industry has recently made a breakthrough in one of the most pressing DFM Impasse: the foundry giant TSMC and the joint power plant data model to provide customers with information about manufacturing processes. This may make the company and the IDM on the DFM issue on the same running line.

Canaccord Adams analyst and vice president Dennis Wassung said recently, DFM tools market in the current annual sales of US $3.5-4, and is expected to grow significantly.

Accurate definition for the DFM market is different, Aprio Technologies president and CEO Mike Gianfagna executives pointed out that if the manufacturing budget EDA manufacturers can try to encroach on the chip makers -- much higher than design budget EDA industry may be a windfall, in order to find a new source of much-needed.

After several years of development, there are signs that DFM began to flourish. DFM has always been like a marketing campaign, but now