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“Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $21.8B in May, 7.5% higher than the $20.3B reported for May ’07. May sales were 2.8% higher than the $21.2B reported for Apr ‘08. Year-to-date sales of $103.4B are up by 5.3% from the $98.2B reported for the 1st 5 mos of ‘07, & total semiconductor sales excluding memory products were up by 12.3% year-on-year & by 2.5% sequentially.” Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) June, 2008 “Worldwide
sales of semiconductors totaled $21.2B in Apr, a 5.9% boost over the year-ago
period's $20.1B. Year-to-date sales of
$82.9B are 4.3% higher than the 1st 4 mos of ‘07 when sales were
$79.5B.” Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) May, 2008 “Venture Capitalists invested $7.1 billion in U.S. start-ups
in Q2/07, up 3% from Q2/06. The amount
invested was spread across 977 deals, the most completed during a 3-month
period since Q3/01.” Thomson Financial PricewaterhouseCoopers National Venture Capital Assn. August, 2007 “In the third quarter of 2007, most employers plan to hire applicants than fire employees. More than a third of these managers polled said they would hire more employees, and only 5% said they would fire workers this quarter. 52% said they expect the number of full-time workers to remain unchanged & nearly half even said they would increase pay. "The survey suggests that the job market is holding up well despite the housing downturn…”, Mark Zandi, Moody's chief economist. The survey was conducted within the first 2 weeks of June & involved 2,417 hiring managers & HR professionals.” USA Today & CareerBuilder.com July, 2007 “The US semiconductor industry appears to have worked through an inventory glut that hurt 4th quarter earnings & sent shares tumbling. Analysts said they expected shares of co’s that make microchips to rise in the coming months as orders increased from customers that were using up inventory in the 4th quarter. Analysts expect chip shares to rise 10-15% in the near term. The last quarter’s results of many microchip co’s had failed to live up to their own forecasts & Wall Street expectations, but analysts said the outlook provided by most firms were more realistic. SIA expects sales of all kinds of chips (processors, memory, wireless & mobile phone chips) to grow 10% this year to $274B, gaining speed from last year’s increase of almost 9%” Reuters Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) February, 2007 “VCs secured $6.53B for their FUTURE investments during Q106, putting the industry on pace to boost its FUNDRAISING efforts for the 4th consecutive year. The amount represented a 21% increase from Q105.” (Emphasis added) Thomson Venture Economics & National Venture Capital Assoc. April, 2006 “Venture
Capitalists boosted their investing to $22.1 billion in ‘05, the highest level
since ’01. The Bay Area leads all
regions of the nation, attracting 35% of the money.” Los Angeles Times January, 2006
“Sales of semiconductors worldwide reached a milestone in Oct, coming in at $20.05B. That's a 6.75% increase compared to the $18.8B sold in Oct of ‘04 & a 2.5% increase from the $19.6B of semiconductors sold in Sept of this year. The association attributes the peak to strong demand of consumer electronics such as cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, digital televisions & personal computers.” Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) December, 2005
“U.S. employers cranked up their hiring in July, adding more than 200,000 jobs in a summertime show of confidence in the economy's staying power. The unemployment rate held steady at 5%. The report raised hopes that job opportunities will continue to expand in the months ahead.” U.S. Labor Department
August, 2005 “The change in share price of Bay Area companies funded
during Q105 compared with their prior financing round was up 24%, suggesting
positive trends. The survey analyzed
the valuations and terms of venture financings for 89 technology and life
science companies headquartered in the SF Bay Area that reported raising
capital in the Q105. The results show a
continuation of positive trends.” Fenwick & West
LLP June, 2005 “U.S. Internet advertising surged 33% in ’04 to a record
$9.6 billion, surpassing levels seen during the early web boom, and will grow
at a similar rate in ’05.” Interactive
Advertising Bureau April, 2005 “Worldwide chip sales rose to $18.1 billion in February, 16% over the year-earlier period, raising hopes the semiconductor industry is set for modest growth in 2005.” Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) April, 2005 “Almost 71% of California small business owners polled are
expecting 2005 to be an overall better year than 2004. Also about 36% of them anticipate that
staffing levels will increase in 2005.” Fifth Annual Statewide SurveyUnion Bank of California February, 2005 “VCs reversed a 3-year downward trend by investing $20.9
billion into 2,876 deals in ‘04. The
annual investment level fell every year beginning in ‘01, culminating in a
6-year low of $18.9 billion in ‘03. The increase in ‘04 was largely
attributable to late stage investments jumping to $7.2 billion in ‘04 compared
to $4.9 billion in 2003. After a dip to $4.6 billion in the 3rd quarter of
2004, investing in the 4th quarter rebounded to $5.3 billion – the approximate
quarterly average of the last 2 years. The 4th quarter marked the 11th consecutive
quarter of venture investing in the $4-6 billion range. Mark Heesen, president
of the National Venture Capital Assoc, said: “It is a good time. As we enter 2005, there will be many opportunities
across industry sectors, funding stages and geographies. The strengthening IPO
and acquisitions markets clearly helped fuel late stage financings in 2004.
Now, as venture capitalists are beginning to invest their new funds, we may
well see a shift in focus back to early stage companies in the coming year.” MoneyTree Survey
by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture
Economics and The National
Venture Capital Association February, 2005 |