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Executive Hotline
Gov’t
Probes Boeing 100-Tanker & $100 Billion Army Programs as Co. Sees
Chinese Demand for 2300 Planes by 2023
As Boeing
struggles in its bid for 100 AF tankers worth $23 billion, it's
involved with $14 billion Army budget for future Combat System,
currently worth $5 billion to Boeing, and sees strong Chinese demand
by 2023 for 2300 planes. China plans to open 100 airports for
commercial use by 2010. More than half of China’s fleet involves
50%+ from Boeing.
Meantime,
Boeing is eagerly building its 777 involving 8000 workers at its
Everett, WA. plant where new 7E7 Dreamliner is underway, due to fly by
2008. Boeing was founded there in 1917. Co. sees worldwide demand for
new aircraft of 24,300 planes over next 20 years. Primaris,a Las Vegas
carrier is buying 20 7E7s while Japan’s All Nippon Airways ordered
50 worth $5 billion.
The
FAA & Boeing are probing older planes for safety problems such as
outside scratches. So far 80-plus planes have been inspected, 50 with
scratches. They tend to weaken planes. Next round involves 1,950 aging
737s. Later thousands more Boeing aircraft will be inspected from
757’s to widebody 767’s and 747 jumbo jets..
Chip
Boom to Falter in 2005
While chip
sales worldwide rose 27% in Sept. at $18.4 billion, firms making chip
making equipment fell 10% or $96 in orders for every $100 in sales.
Compared with August, Sept. sales were down 1.7% to $3.32 billion in
the Americas.Semiconductor Industry Ass’n, said sales to grow 6% in
2005 and 14% in 2007. Consumer market now accounts for 50% of chip
sales vs. 45% for corporate purchases and 5% government. Among fastest
growing market is Optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes in
TV displays. Projected to grow 46% to $13.9 billion this year and 13%
to $15.7 billion in 2005.
AMD ships
two new chips, the Athlon 64 4000+ and Athlon 64 FX-55 chips. FX-55
runs on speeds of 2.6 gigahertz but its performance matches
hypothetical 4 gigahertz Petium 4. AMD puts pressure on Intel to stay
competitive on performance. AMD chips will also be made in Singapore,
deal made with Chartered Semiconductor.
A market
is building for 3-D chips as Matrix Semiconductor, Santa Clara,CA.,
broke through storage chip that stacks memory like layers of pancakes.
Matrix making 1 million chips a month.
ClearSpeed
Technology of Los Gatos,CA. developing chip to turn computer into
high-powered scientific workstation with chip having 96 processors.
Texas
Instruments has success with TV chip for big screen TVs that creates
images by bouncing light off a million or more microsopic mirrors.
Sales projected at $900 million this year. TI spent millions of
dollars over 20 years to develop its digital light processor chip.
Busy
chip-equipment maker FormFactor relocated its plant in Livermore,CA.,
a new $55 million manufacturing facility that’s 135,000 sq. ft. It
will have 550 employees.
Toyota
May Build Hybrids in U.S.
Toyota,
which builds Corollas, Tacoma trucks and Pontiac Vibe for GM in its
Fremont,CA. plant with 5,700 workers, may build hybrid cars in U.S.
with sales expected of 50,000. Prius hybrid and NUMMI plant in Fremont
is 5.3 million sq ft. Facility opened 20 years ago.
Hitachi
Cutting Jobs, Hits San Jose Plant
Hitachi
Global Storage, hard disk drive maker with 3,800 employees in San
Jose, will cut 400 workers. Almaden Research Center has 150 workers.
They and 400 more, moved to new campus in Evergreen area of San Jose
in Nov..In June 2003, Hitachi bought bulk of IBM disk drive operations
in San Jose for $2.05 billion.
Aerospace Defense Business Active
Silicon
Graphics and NASA-Ames have new supercomputer, the Columbia, at NASA
in Mountain View,CA. worth $40 million. It comprises 20 Altix Systems
and 10,240 Intel Itanium-2 processors. It reached performance of 42.7
trillion calculations per second—or teraflops with 16 systems...
Primaris Airlines ordered 40 new Boeing jets and be first to fly new
7E7 Dreamliner. Order value is $38 billion...As of Nov. defense titans
gained on aerospace upswing. Profits rose for Honeywell, United
Technologies and General Dynamics with combined net income for 3rd
quarter of $1.4 billion....Northrop Grumman has $207.7 million order
from AF to produce four Global Hawk unmanned spy planes... GE lost bid
for All Nippon Airways purchase of jet engines for 50 Boeing’s new
7E7 which went to Rolls Royce PLC for its Rolls Trent 1000
engine....Space visionaries are aiming high with a space elevator to
carry supplies into orbit, a 62,000 mile ribbon stretched from an
anchor on Earth to a weight orbiting in space...It would cost
billions. Solar-powered cars climb the ribbon, carting parts for space
stations, hotels and space colonies...The U.S. & Europe have sued
each other at WTO over aircraft subsidies. Boeing says European
governments have given $15 billion in aid to France-based Airbus but
European Union says Boeing has received $23 billion in government
subsidies since 1992.... Airlines are installing broadband in-flight
online systems connections such as Boeing’s in-flight
and e-mail and Web-surfing systems called Connexion..Northrop
& Boeing are teaming to compete for NASA’s planned manned and
robotic space-exploration program called “Project
Constellation.”... The Pentagon envisions a costly internet for
wars,an “internet in the sky” aims to link satellites, aircraft
weapons and thousands of new ground terminals for soldiers,
giving every fighter a God’s Eye View Of Battle..A war-net’s
hardware could cost up to $200 billion, including software, in next
decade or so....Microsoft and Dell share $500 million contract for
software and services to improve security for the Air Force Six-year
agreement includes 525,000 decktop windows software licenses. Dell
will provide desktop computers.
Supercomputing
Race Is On
Top
three supercomputers include Lawrence Livermore Lab Blue Gene/L by
IBM, peak speed of 70.72 teraflops, 360 at completion, the Columbia
supercomputer, NASA/Ames with 51.87 teraflops, and Earth Simulator by
NEC in Japan with 35.86 teraflops speed that has 5,120 SX 6
processors.. U.S. firms made 90% of supercomputers on the top 500
list. Hewlett-Packard, IBM led all others with 34.6% and 43.2%. Others
equal 11% including Linux Network, NEC, DEC and SGI.. The three types
are Commodity that links processors into powerful network; High
Capability, linking specialized processors, and Hybrid that uses
off-shelf processors linked by custom connectors.
Nanotechnology’s
Commercial Uses Begin
Nanotechnology,
measured in billionths of a meter, still mainly domain of researchers
has great potential. A bicycle maker, Easton Sports is using Zyvex of
Richardson, TX. Nanotech Co., carbon nanotube, superstrong tubes of
carbon atoms one billion of a meter in diameter, in a composite
material for bike frames and parts.
Digital
Camera to Print—No Computer Used
Pictures
designed for 4x6 photos don’t require a computer. They print
directly from digital camera. There are now several printers available
from Canon, Olympus, Sony, Epson and Hewlett-Packard. If camera is
PictBridge-compatible you connect it directly to PictBrige printer
using standard USB cable..Also, for memory card slots, include right
on printer.Pop card out of camera, slide into printer and boom,
you’re a walking Fotomat. These decktop darkrooms range $135 to
$215.
Buy
& Sell & Merge
Mattson
Technology, Fremont,CA., acquired Vortek Industries Ltd.,
Vancouver..Yahoo acquires e-mail startup Stata Labs..Fener Musical
Instruments, Scottsdale,AZ. buys Tacoma, WA’s Tacoma
Guitar....Backup software developer Dantz Development, Walnut
Creek,CA. sold to
Massachusetts-based EMC which bought Pleasanton,CA.’s Documentium
last year.. Quantum,San Jose disk drive-maker, bought Certance,Costa
Mesa,CA.... Invision sale to GEW was delayed until Dec. 27. |