• Opinion
Semiconductor executives are directly liable for the flawed forecasts and capital expenditure misses that trigger the industry's boom and bust cycles. They cannot keep deflecting the blames.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
The capital expenditure plans announced by chipmakers just a couple of years back were huge – in dollar value, number of plants and scale – but they were also unrealistic. Why are semiconductor industry executives that should know better this prone to shooting themselves in the foot?
Once again, the latest semiconductor industry capital expenditure fever has broken. Forecasts for double-digit year-over-year capex increases are being revised downwards, steering the industry towards more believable numbers.