Real World Chips Make Real Money
We hardware fanbois at HotHardware always keep a close eye on the horserace between Intel and AMD. But you know who's making real money in the chip world? Analog chipmakers:
Research firm iSuppli forecasts a 10.1% jump in analog chip sales this year, to $47.5 billion. ISuppli analyst Gary Grandbois says that analog sales growth will start to slow later this year, and then slow to 9% growth in 2008 and to 4.9% in 2009, before rebounding in 2010. He says the slowdown is part of the usual chip cycle.
That's not the case now for many analog firms. Analog Devices, for one, has been on the fast-growth track lately. Nintendo chose one of its chips for its new Wii game console controller last year. The Wii has proven to be a huge hit, in large part because game players use a controller that can be moved around to simulate various sports movements.
If you listen to it, or watch it, or yell into it, it's probably got one. Read about the old-fashioned cutting-edge boom here.
