Texas Instruments has raised its third-quarter earnings forecast on the expectation of a gradual recovery in the global semiconductor market, predicting much stronger earnings than it predicted back in July. TI has not stated that it expects end demand to increase, but it has revealed that TI customers have been increasing production. 
 
Several other companies in the semiconductor industry, such as Intel, seem to be raising their expectations for the third quarter, hinting at an overall improvement in an industry that originally suffered because of the recession’s crippling impact on demand and corporate technology spending. In particular, Intel’s brighter forecast provided …read more

Atmel, a company that makes semiconductors, continues to make changes to its business model in an attempt to survive the global economic downturn. In 2008, the company fired 2,000 of its 8,000 workers. Now, the company has fired another 300 workers.
Founded in 1984 and currently headquartered in San Jose, Atmel has had a turbulent last few years. In addition to firing workers last year, the company also canceled many of its product lines. Even with all the layoffs and adjustments, Atmel still lost more than $27 million in 2008. Their revenues also slipped almost 5% to $1.6 billion.
Atmel hasn’t …read more