Sony axes 8,000 jobs as Samsung sees trouble ahead
Posted on 9 Dec 2008 at 14:55
Thousands of job cuts at Sony and negative outlooks from companies such as Samsung and Texas Instruments have deepened the tech gloom.
Demand for consumer electronics has slumped in the run-up to Christmas as the financial crisis has grown into a broad recession that has already engulfed the US, parts of Europe and is dampening demand in emerging markets.
"Consumers have essentially stopped buying," says Brian Halla, chief executive of chipmaker National Semiconductor. "For the first time in a long time, you think before you buy the new gadget or choose to upgrade your phone."
Sony says it will slash 8,000 jobs, about 4% of its workforce, scale back investments and pull out of businesses as it aims to cut $1.1 billion in costs out of its ailing electronics operations.
The cuts - the biggest announced by an Asian firm so far in the financial crisis - and other restructuring steps underscore challenges facing Sony, which has fallen well behind Apple's iPod in portable music and is struggling to make money on flat-panel TVs.
Samsung is also cutting its targets for sales, capital expenditures and profit, reflecting an increasingly tough worldwide economy.
The world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens is also facing a lengthy downturn in the once-reliable memory market and a rapid margin deterioration in the flat-screen TV sector.
"At a time when people are worried about losing their jobs and paying their mortgages it is not surprising that the consumer electronics industry is being hit," claims Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
However, Milanesi offered some hope for the tech giants. "In the past, when things started to improve, it has also been one of the first industries to bounce back."
Chip makers Texas Instruments and smaller rival National Semiconductor have both slashed current-quarter revenue forecasts to far below Wall Street expectations as demand for mobile phone and analog chips came to a virtual standstill.
"Conditions are likely to get worse before they get better," TI's head of investor relations, Ron Slaymaker, claims.
Author: Reuters
advertisement
- Need a bit of extra Christmas cash? Grass up your boss, says BSA
- Photoshop Mobile on Android review: first look
- ATI Radeon HD 5970: 42% more expensive in the UK
- Office 2010 Beta – 32-bit or 64-bit – The Choice is Clear
- Why Britain's watchdogs have fewer teeth than goldfish
- Tabbed documents: how to make Office 2010 great
- Outlook 2010 People Pane – does it spell death to Xobni
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots
- Co-Authoring in Word 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots: Backstage view
- Getting to grips with Microsoft's IT Health Environment Scanner
- Virtualise your servers
- The changing face of travel gadgets
- Build your own distributed file system
- The bulletproof Dell that costs an arm and a leg
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview: Q&A
- Lawnmowers, the TyTN II and one odd insurance request
- There'll never be a bulletproof OS
- How far can we trust apps?
- Five nice touches in Outlook 2010
advertisement
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk


