Intel CEO Craig Barrett believes the current inventory correction being experienced by the chip industry does not herald a slowdown and has said he takes forecasts of flat sale growth through 2005 "with a grain of salt".

Speaking at a Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) meeting this week, Barrett said: "I don't think the inventory correction is a euphemism for a slowdown."

Chip demand prediction remains an inexact science, he said. "We don't make forecasts," he added. "I take the SIA forecast with a grain of salt."

Earlier this week, the SIA lowered it 2004 global chip sales forecast to $213.8bn from $214bn. It also said it expects 2005's total to be much the same as that, with sales rising again in 2006, by 6.3 per cent. It had previously predicted a 4.2 per cent increase in 2005, followed by a 0.8 per cent dip the year after.

Barrett's expectations seem mirrored by market watcher iSuppli, which has reiterated its bullish September forecast (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/10/2005_chip_sales_slow/) for growth of 9.6 per cent during 2005.

In an EE Times interview (http://www.eetimes.com/semi/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=LKQQYFVIKENSEQSNDBGCKH0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=51202869), Dale Ford, iSuppli's VP of market intelligence services, said the growth will arise in part because a broader array of memory products will allow vendors to continue to pump out chips without having to flood a particular market.

"In the past, memory suppliers would keep the lines running, now they can reallocate production capacity," he said.

iSuppli believes chip sales will hit $208.8bn this year, up 25.5 per cent on 2003's total, $166.4bn, and well below the SIA's forecast. ®

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Chip trade body revises 2004 sales downward (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/04/chip_sales_forecast/)
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