Broadcom now expects fourth-quarter revenues to reach about US$1.9 billion, the top end of its previous forecast range. "Our increased revenue guidance reflects stronger-than-expected demand for products in our Mobile and Wireless markets versus our initial expectations entering the quarter," said company president and CEO Scott McGregor.

IDC forecasts that worldwide semiconductor revenues will grow 9% on year in 2011, and will achieve a CAGR of 6% for the 2010-2015 forecast period. "Near term, the semiconductor market should hit bottom by the second quarter of next year and begin a growth cycle that will take us into the second half of 2012..."

"Overall, the SIA forecast for 2012 looks like the "death" of the semiconductor industry, and we couldn't disagree more!" said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights. In IC Insights opinion, 2012 has tremendous upside potential for the semiconductor industry.

Toshiba's operating profits for the April-September period is set to come to more than 100 billion yen (US$1.2 billion), beating the company's forecast of 70 billion yen, according to the Nikkei business daily. Booming global sales of smartphones have boosted demand for the company's flash memory chips and small LCD panels.

Programmable chipmaker Altera has forecast its sales would grow in the fourth quarter as China expands its wireless telephone infrastructure but some analysts warned that revenues could slow next year.

The world's largest memory chipmaker is forecast to invest US$9.2 billion in its semiconductors business next year, according to an industry report.

LDK said it expects third-quarter revenue of $610 million to $640 million, up from a previous forecast of revenue of $570 million to $600 million. LDK revised higher its wafer shipments outlook to 550MW to 570MW from its prior outlook of 520MW to 550MW.

"Silicon shipments reflect the tremendous recovery experienced by the semiconductor industry this year," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "While current data suggest that growth rates are moderating, we expect that the industry will continue to be positive for the next two years."

Elpida Memory president and CEO Yukio Sakamoto said in an interview that the company is delaying plans to boost production capacity at its Taiwanese unit. "Through the summer, demand for PC memory didn't rise as much I had expected," Sakamoto said. "If there's no demand, there's no point in adding capacity."

Analog chip vendor Texas Instruments has lowered the upper end of its forecast range for third-quarter profit and sales, indicating that semiconductor demand may be slipping as economic growth slows.

Don't look now, but a fab tool downturn could be on the horizon.

There appears to be a sudden slowdown in the cell-phone, LCD, LED, PC and other product segments - a trend that impacts chipmakers. And chip inventories are on the rise. Still, VLSI Research has raised its chip and fab tool forecasts for 2010.

Applied Materials has forecast quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates, with demand for its chip-making gear holding up despite fears of weakening technology spending. But the company warned that sales of solar and energy equipment would slide 10-20% this quarter.

The mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Forecast predicts that sales of global semiconductor equipment are growing in all regions in 2010. Taiwan is again, projected to be the largest market with US$9.18 billion.

Chip equipment maker Veeco Instruments has posted a second-quarter profit that surpassed Wall Street expectations, helped by strong LED and solar orders, and forecast a strong third quarter.

At an analyst briefing at the Semicon West trade show, Applied Materials indicated that it now expects 140% on-year revenue growth for its semiconductor equipment business for the October 2010 fiscal year, an increase from the company's previous forecast of 120% growth.

The Goldman Sachs Global Clean Energy team bases its installation forecast on supply forecast of 20GW and 28GW in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Thursday posted a 20% increase in first-quarter profit, but sales and handset shipments fell below Wall Street's forecast.

At the beginning of this year, it was clear that only a few companies would spend more than US$1 billion each in 2010. This has suddenly changed: some companies have announced record levels of capex plans.

Toshiba, one of Japan's largest electronics companies, has said it expects net losses of 20 billion yen (US$215 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2010. That's down from its previous estimtae of 50 billion yen.

Chip equipment maker Novellus Systems now expects to earn US$0.43 per share, US$0.04 above the high end of the range it had forecast in March. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 21.

German chipmaker Infineon expects to raise its outlook for the fiscal year to Sept. 30 due to better-than-expected second-quarter results.

Research in Motion posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue that missed Wall Street expectations, but the BlackBerry maker's forecast for the current quarter easily topped analysts' estimates.

IDC analysts have said the global chip industry will grow in 2010 but offered one of the least optimistic industry revenue forecasts so far this year, saying the global recession remains a problem.

TriQuint Semiconductor, which provides chips for mobile gadgets such as Apple's iPhone, has hiked its profit forecast for the quarter, a sign that demand is improving.

The strong start prompted Applied Materials to brighten its outlook for the fiscal 2010. The company expects its sales to increase by more than 50%, up from its previous forecast of a 30% gain.

"Am I setting very aggressive targets? Yes," said Ibrahim Ajami, CEO of Advanced Technology Investment Co., Globalfoundries' controlling shareholder. "We need to be a US$5 billion company in the next two to three years."

The world's largest maker of semiconductor lithography machines, which map out electronic circuits on silicon wafers, was forecast to report a further rise in bookings from the third quarter, driven by consumer spending on end products.

Citing the fab tool recovery, Barclays Capital has raised its immersion lithography unit shipment estimate from 95 units to 105 units for 2010.

With the forecast for packaging improving in 2010, business strategy is shifting toward more partnerships and joint ventures. And the focus on through-silicon vias (TSVs) is rapidly accelerating and may result in even more partnerships and joint ventures between foundries and packaging houses.

The net loss in the 12 months ending March 31, 2010 will probably be 55 billion yen (US$607 million), wider than the 9 billion yen projected earlier, according to NEC Electronics on October 28.