What's Happening in High-Tech Supply Chains
Staff -- Purchasing, 4/15/2004 2:00:00 AM
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New display technologies are about to transform the rear-projection television sector. Most rear-projection sets continue to be based on cathode ray tubes, but analyst Riddhi Patel at Stanford Resources says liquid crystal displays, liquid crystal on silicon and digital light processing are coming fast. In fact, by 2006, Patel reckons most shipments of rear-projection televisions will feature the new display technologies.
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Projected future shortfalls of natural gas have triggered a planning frenzy for dozens of new liquefied natural gas terminals. However, industry experts say only a handful of the super-cooled LNG facilities are likely to be built. Reason: Local opposition. ConocoPhillips and Tran Canada Corp. just suspended work on a project in Maine after area residents voted not to lease land for the terminal.
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Morgan Stanley has boosted its global revenue forecast for wireless infrastructure in 2004 from a 3.5% decline to a 2% rise, but is pessimistic about long-term sales and profits for cellular phone firms. Morgan Stanley sees a sharp slowdown in the second half for mobile phones and flat year-on-year 2005 revenues for wireless equipment. "We feel our longer-term outlook remains low-to-no growth," the brokerage forecasts.
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There will be plenty of nickel coming from Australia in the years ahead. British-Australian metals and mining group BHP Billiton has received government approvals to increase annual nickel production by 140% and extend the life of the Yabulu Nickel Refinery by 25 years.
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Microsoft has updated several business software applications and services, starting with new functions for the Microsoft Business Network, a subscription-based software hosting service released last year to help companies exchange shipping lists, inventory updates and other data. The network can now process documents using electronic data interchange (EDI) standards as well as extensible markup language (XML) technology.
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Original design manufacturing (ODM) is a hot segment in the worldwide electronic equipment business. iSuppli analysts project that ODM manufacturing of notebooks, handsets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), MP3 players, servers and printers will grow at a 19% compound annual growth rate through 2007.
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