New PC Category To Increase Demand In Semi Equipment

May 30, 2012

The ultrabook category of the PC market may drive demand trends in servers later in 2012, therefore, boosting the semiconductor equipment industry, says Hans Mosesmann, an Analyst at Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

“In consumer PCs, there is a lot of enthusiasm about ultrabook as a new category for PCs,” he said. “We had a product cycle in ultrabooks. We’ll have to wait and see how demand is for these products, but it is encouraging that the OEM activity and the build plans are very positive.”

Mosesmann recently upgraded ARM Holdings plc (ARMH) to a “buy” rating as the I.P. used for ARM processors in ultrabooks comes from the U.K-based company. He says although, this computing platform may not be new, per se, ultrabooks are expected to sell at a lower price point this year due to increased demand from consumers, benefiting ARMH.

“Their technology/I.P. have become the de facto in standard in smartphones and tablets that are used by Apple, for example, used by Samsung, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and Texas Instruments, these last three as merchant chip suppliers, so obviously, ARM is going to benefit, we believe,” Mosesmann said.