Don´t look down - [Electronics business]

The article discusses recession is already hitting the semiconductor business but tight capacity might mean a rapid turnaround in fortunes. The semiconductor business can manoeuvre itself into having a bad year in a good economy. But when it´s a bad economy, the chip business has to work hard to not fall into recession. Most of the problem lies in chip pricing. The unit shipments of integrated circuits (ICs) have shrunk year-on-year only twice. Once was in 1985 when the general economy was in rude health; the second was 2001 when GDP growth slipped below 3 per cent. The problem is that the value of the industry has fallen more often because pricing slips out of control during recessions.