<p>Interestingly, my company’s biggest customers are TSMC, Samsung, IBM and Intel and it said the second half of the year looks slow. Qualcomm said it was having difficulty getting 28 nm chips which cannot be made without our product. I think the second half of the year looks dicey for technology and probably the economy.</p>
<p>Hmmm …and technology has been a pretty hot sector…</p>
<p>Intel is at 25% production on 22 nm and expects to ramp very quickly from there in 2012. Does this mean an overall decrease in wafer sales but the same number of chips produced? I’ve read that TSMC, Samsung and IBM have had yield problems on 28 nm though one of the first two is producing small quantities of chips now that go into the iPad 2 and AppleTV (low volume now).</p>
<p>Intel’s conference call last night didn’t indicate any problems with 2012 and indicated that things will be better in Q2 compared to Q1 now that the hard drive shortage problems have improved.</p>
<p>I don’t know the exact timeframe, but there is a move to go to 450 mm wafers rather than the 300 mm wafers currently used. This means more chips on a wafer. I think the time per chip may be decreasing because of faster stage speed.</p>
<p>The news that I’ve read indicate 2015/2016 at the earliest for 450 nm wafers.</p>
<p>Intel is making chips on 22 nm with 3-D transistors so chips only need half the space on their new process.</p>
<p>I think that everyone but Intel (and maybe Samsung) are having trouble with HKMG and it may be that foundry customers have to use 40-45 nm until they can get the 28-30 nm nodes working.</p>
<p>I work on the sub 20 nm products. The products take years and significant money to develop so we are ahead of the curve on everything so a slowdown for us now means a slowdown in tech sometime in the future.</p>
<p>So you’re way ahead of the curve.</p>
<p>I do think that some of the wafer issues may be due to yield problems at 28 nm.</p>
<p>Qualcomm, the largest supplier of application processors and system-on-chip devices for smartphones, on Wednesday said that demand for its latest Snapdragon S4 application processors and made using 28nm technology exceeds TSMC’s ability to manufacture the chips using the latest process tech. As a result, Qualcomm will outsource production of 28nm devices to other foundries.</p>
<p>“We are seeing very strong demand for our industry-leading Snapdragon 4/MSM8960 and other 28nm products. Although the manufacturing yields are progressing per expectations, there is a shortage of 28nm capacity. We are working closely with our partners to bring additional capacity online. However, the constraints on 28nm supply are limiting our potential revenue upside this fiscal year. […] We are increasing our operating expenses to facilitate additional 28-nanometer supply,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer and chairman of Qualcomm, during the latest conference call with financial analysts.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20120418202224_Qualcomm_Criticizes_TSMC_for_Inability_to_Make_Enough_28nm_Chips.html[/url]”>http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20120418202224_Qualcomm_Criticizes_TSMC_for_Inability_to_Make_Enough_28nm_Chips.html</a></p>
<p>Good news…the household debt burden is decreasing.</p>
<p><a href=“Not Exactly a Miracle, but U.S. Debt Levels Are Falling - Floyd Norris - The New York Times”>Not Exactly a Miracle, but U.S. Debt Levels Are Falling - Floyd Norris - The New York Times;
<p>"One measure of the financial health of householders is the level of financial obligations, like required mortgage and credit card payments, to disposable income. By the fall of 2007, those obligations took up 14 percent of disposable income, more than at any time since the Federal Reserve began calculating the statistic in 1980.</p>
<p>But now the situation has turned around. The latest figures, for the final quarter of 2011, show that required debt service payments now make up just 10.9 percent of disposable income, the lowest proportion since 1994. A broader measure — which adds in such obligations as property tax and insurance premiums for homeowners, and rent for those who do not own their homes — has fallen to the lowest level since 1984."</p>
<p>Permits for new housing are up:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[US</a> homebuilders request most permits in 3½ years - BostonHerald.com](<a href=“http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view/20120417us_homebuilders_request_most_permits_in_3_years/srvc=home&position=also]US”>http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view/20120417us_homebuilders_request_most_permits_in_3_years/srvc=home&position=also)</p>
<p>There was a news story today that inventory in Phoenix has declined sharply. </p>
<p>Phoenix is an area that has been hit hard. That could be good news for homeowners and builders in Phoenix.</p>
<p>It would be very interesting to find out who the buyers are given that the West Coast is of interest to Asians.</p>
<p>The national employment picture seems to be hitting a speed bump given the recent new claims numbers and some news of mass layoffs. That said, corporate profits seem to be pretty good.</p>
<p>Son told me last night that his manager’s manager told him that he wants to hire a Linux admin. His group is doing all of the admin work right now and it’s not the best use of their time. It looks like the little group that he joined is set to grow.</p>
<p>Whitmire tells a familiar story of how public and private institutions derailed an American’s dream: In 2000, he bought the $40,000 house with no money down and a $620 monthly mortgage. He made every payment. Then, in the fall of 2010, his partially disabled wife lost her state job. “Governor [Mitch] Daniels slashed the budget, and they looked for any excuse to squeeze people out,” Whitmire says. “We got lost in that shuffle—cut adrift.” The Whitmires couldn’t make their payments anymore.</p>
<p>They applied for a trial loan-modification through an Obama administration program, and when it was granted, their monthly bill fell to $473.87. But, like nearly a million others, the modification was canceled. After charging the lower rate for three months, their mortgage lender reinstated the higher fee and billed the family $1,878.88 in back payments. Whitmire didn’t have that kind of cash and couldn’t get it, so he and his wife filed for bankruptcy. His attorney advised him to live in the house until the bank foreclosed, but “I don’t believe in a free lunch,” Whitmire says. He moved out, leaving the keys on the kitchen table. “I thought the bank should have them.”</p>
<p>Whitmire is an angry man. He is among a group of voters most skeptical of President Obama: noncollege-educated white males. He feels betrayed—not just by Obama, who won his vote in 2008, but by the institutions that were supposed to protect him: his state, which laid off his wife; his government in Washington, which couldn’t rescue homeowners who had played by the rules; his bank, which failed to walk him through the correct paperwork or warn him about a potential mortgage hike; his city, which penalized him for somebody else’s error; and even his employer, a construction company he likes even though he got laid off. “I was middle class for 10 years, but it’s done,” Whitmire says. “I’ve lost my home. I live in a trailer now because of a mortgage company and an incompetent government.”</p>
<p>[In</a> Nothing We Trust - Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton - NationalJournal.com](<a href=“http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419?print=true]In”>http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419?print=true)</p>
<p>I know that a lot of this stuff is going on in various parts of the country - it’s just that I don’t personally see it. Things are better economically in my part of the country - they aren’t great but they are slowly improving. I would guess that other parts of the country aren’t improving.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, that’s a good article…</p>
<p>“What if, in the future, they don’t? People could disconnect, refocus inward, and turn away from their social contract. Already, many are losing trust. If society can’t promise benefits for joining it, its members may no longer feel bound to follow its rules. But is the rise of disillusionment inexorable? Can institutions regain their mojo? History offers hope, but Whitmire’s story, and the story of Muncie, say no.”</p>
<p>I think this is going to be a big problem…you remove people’s stakes in the system…and they are going to want a new system…</p>
<p>The extremists in France are getting more and more support…and we are not different in the USA.</p>
<p>A country with a weak middle class…is going to become weak itself.</p>
<p>On a related note…my brother’s wife inherited a house in Cal. Prop 13 is supposed to let the heirs keep those property taxes. The paper work was not done properly. My sister in law and brother got a statement that they owed back taxes of 31,000 because they didn’t file the proper paperwork.</p>
<p>I find this slightly amusing because it took several years for the government to figure this out…so I would argue that the government was sending improper billls to my brother and his wife. The government did the same thing they are accusing my brother and my sister in law
of…improper paperwork…the bills that were sent to my brother and his wife were wrong.</p>
<p>So why should my brother have to pay?</p>
<p>My brother did pay…and possession is 90 percent…the government got thr money. I think my brother blew it. Should have at least talked to a lawyer.</p>
<p>But my brother didn’t ask me…</p>
<p>And governments are really starving for money…</p>
<p>Sometimes you can’t fight city hall.</p>
<p>I had an issue with property taxes too. The clerk said that I had a legitimate case but they’d figure a way around it and I wouldn’t see anything for a long time even if I won. This was a long time ago. I might have better chances today as I have better political connections. It’s a shame that you need that to get anywhere.</p>
<p>It is a shame.</p>
<p>I obviously don’t have political connections because I can’t get a stupid tree cut down.</p>
<p>Here is the biggest problem with fighting the government- you are using your own money and the bureaucrat you are fighting is not</p>
<p>BC- political connections used to have more power- now at least where I work if I am right on the issue I tell them to go away. I tell them nicely but the result is the same.</p>
<p>The internet has changed things too. In the past, people at the town hall could say what they wanted to. Today, if they say something unseemly, it gets posted to the town forum and it will be looked at. That’s resulted in town workers posting anonymously and then the town forum started tracking IP numbers.</p>
<p>It’s a lot harder to hide abuse these days though people still do try.</p>
<p>Having connections gives you a completely different view on all of the things that go on in a small town.</p>
<p>It is a good thing to have things out in the open. We should tell people what the rules are and follow them.</p>
<p>Last week there was an article in the paper about a State legislator complaining about a trooper giving him a ticket. I bet that trooper will never be passed up for a promotion now. The State will not want to defend the retaliation lawsuit.</p>
<p>My family and I are doing far better than we were 4 years ago. This isn’t just a case of being 4 years older and closer to retirement, either. My sister has survived her underwater mortgage. My oldest kid (mid-twenties) is making much more money than I was at that age with similar education. Most of my nieces and nephews have good to excellent jobs. </p>
<p>But the biggest difference is that my 90 year old mother, who survived one Great Depression, does not go to bed worrying about another one. I remember ■■■■■■■■ annecoulter.com as the melt-down was unfolding. Some of the conservative Disaster Capitalists on that board were positively giddy about the prospects of a second Great Depression. Bring it on! This was the country’s big opportunity for Social Darwinism to wipe the slate clean by bankrupting Big Gummint. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.</p>