The semiconductor industry has hit a "bump in the road" as the business is heading towards negative territory in 2005, according to an analyst with Semico Research Corp. on Thursday (Sept. 9).
It's no wonder that analysts predict excess capacity in 2005: the total number of 300-mm fabs worldwide equates to some 100 200-mm plants in terms of overall wafer output.
Growing uneasiness over the ability to continue shrinking existing CMOS memory cells and the push toward portable electronics are helping to foster R&D on new memory technologies.