Europe's largest computer chip makerSTMicroelectronicsisthe latest in the industrytoreport an upturnin demand for it
products, potentially an early sign of global economic
recovery.
This follows similar statements by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and
Intel, saying the upward trend is a good indicator that the
worst of the economic downturn is over.
Carlo
Bozotti, chief executive of STMicroelectronics, said the
company has seen some positive trends over the past couple of
weeks, according to the
Financial Times.
He said there are signs of re-stocking and order growth,
particularly in China, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore and
stabilisation in the US and Europe.
But Bozotti said it was still too early to say whether the
renewed demand was the start of a sustained recovery or the prelude
to a "double-dip" downturn.
"It will be six to eight weeks before we can tell whether it is
a trend," he said.
If the positive trend is confirmed, Bozotti said company sales
will still take some time to return to the pre-downturn level
$2.9bn a quarter, but a recovery to at least $2.3bn is possible
within a year.
Like Intel, STMicroelectronics has implemented a set of cost
cutting measures in the face of a net loss of £257m for the first
quarter of 2009, including cuts of up to 4,500 jobs.
Falling demand for PCs in 2008 has hit several large chip
manufacturers, including Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments and
Samsung.