This Week's Winners & Losers

Who’s Up?
Broadcom is $19.6 million richer, at least on paper, after a jury voted against Qualcomm in a patent dispute. That doesn’t include all the lawyers fees, of course, but this was a high-profile fight and the decision goes to Broadcom. Consider this a modest contribution toward Broadcom’s $2.2 billion charge for stock options backdating.

China’s chip market is on track for 20 percent growth this year, which by all accounts is remarkable. But there’s a dark lining in this silver cloud. iSuppli says the market looks increasingly like a giant bubble. And given that China in particular accounts for a significant portion of the global chip market—about a fifth, at last count—companies doing business there would be wise to keep their inventory on the ultra-lean side.

Conversely, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics predicts only 2.3 percent growth this year, which is a far cry from the 8.6 percent projection it issued last fall. Still, it’s in the plus column, and slower growth is better than no growth—which is what happened in 2001, after the dot-com bubble burst.

Not to be outdone, or at least by only a small amount, Gartner lowered its forecast from 6.5 percent growth to 2.5 percent because of severe price erosion in the DRAM market and MPU price competition. Positive is still positive. We’re sticking to our story.

Who’s Down?
The U.S. Senate voted to increase the cost of an H1-B visa from $1,500 to $5,000, essentially telling tech companies that if they want to hire outsiders, it’s going to cost more than three times as much up front. That hefty increase was courtesy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, who proposed the amendment to the H1-B visa bill now under consideration in both houses of Congress. If Silicon Valley promises to eat more pancakes with Vermont maple syrup will Sanders drop the amendment?

Meanwhile, Motorola, IBM and Tundra all announced layoffs this week. Motorola is cutting a total of 7,500 jobs, up from the previously announced 3,500. IBM has cut 3,023 jobs this quarter, as well. And Tundra will eliminate 20 positions. Does this mean they won’t need all those H1-B visas after all?

Ten NEC employees bilked about $18 million from the company for six years through a kickback scheme from subcontractors. This is more than just an inside job. It’s an inside-the-ecosystem job. Who said contractors were more economical?

Finally, on a tragic note, former Altera CEO Rodney Smith died in a bicycle accident in Palo Alto. Smith helped turn programmable logic into a market reality. The whole industry is a little poorer.

Hear anything else of note? Let us know.

–Ed Sperling, Editor in Chief