Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is no longer sure it will be able to meet its goal of being cash flow positive in 2009. The company had been quite assertive previously that it expects to break even in 2009 on a pro forma basis but during its latest conference call the microprocessor and graphics IC vendor cast some doubts on that goal.

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. will not host its annual Technology Forum in North America and Europe this year in response to the market recession and on concerns interested participants may be unable to attend the conference due to cost-cutting actions by their employers.

The OJO-Mojo Tech Report has learned Freescale will, however, host the training and customer support event in China, India and Japan “because the majority of participants reside in the immediate area and travel expenses are not an immediate concern in these regions,” according to a spokesman for the company.

In order to accommodate North American and European participants in the annual technology forum, Freescale will instead organize a virtual conference for them on its website. The company is still finalizing plans for the event.

It is expected that Freescale will host the North America and European versions of the Technology Forum in 2010.

The era of the integrated device manufacturer is all but over.

The NXP-STMicroelectronics wireless IC joint venture announced Thursday (April 10) sounded the death knell for the semiconductor industry’s most enduring business structure.

Only a handful of IDMs—semiconductor companies that own their own fabrication plants, design, test and assembly services—exist today as the industry pursues a relentless quest for productivity improvements and reduced operating costs.

These are not just strange times. What’s happening in our financial market is plain bizarre. Unfortunately, recent events have been given the appearance of normalcy because the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. government are abetting the madness.

Intel Corp. is getting itself sucked into a public relations mess over its business dispute with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Unfortunately, it seems top executives at the semiconductor company aren’t even aware of the danger.

Take Craig Barrett’s recent comments about a raid on Intel’s offices in Europe by investigators seeking evidence against the company for allegedly anti-competitive practices.

Barrett, chairman of Intel, reportedly told a news agency that Intel didn’t have a “chance to respond to the first allegations yet,” before the raid. That’s baloney.

The idea that Intel isn’t ready to present its case rings hollow considering authorities in the United States, Korea and Japan have either opened or concluded investigations into what AMD termed anti-competitive practices by its bigger rival.

Yahoo Inc.’s annual revenue is less than $7 billion. Yet, Microsoft wants to pay $45 billion or so for the web search company on the argument that the combination “would enable us to jointly deliver a broad range of new experiences to our customers that neither of us would have achieved on our own.”

Yahoo is not worth $45 billion and its rival Google Inc., is certainly not worth the inflated $500-plus per share investors are currently paying.

If a counter offer emerges from other industry players and financial companies start lining up to fund the deal, then I would eat my words. One year ago, that would have happened. Not today when the market is suffering from the indigestion of our past gluttony.

Michael Megalli, a partner at Group 1066 (www.group1066.com) believes Motorola Inc. has done an awful job managing product introduction in what is arguably one of the fastest-growing segments of the electronics industry.

Megalli makes his case as follows in response to an article by Bolaji Ojo, editor of the OJO-Mojo Tech Report and EETimes business editor:

Some German government officials are reportedly ditching their Nokia cell phones in protest over the Finnish company’s decision to close a plant in one of Germany’s industrial cities.

Here's the $100 million question: Whose phone will they select as replacement considering all the top mobile handset makers are shifting production to lower-cost Asian or Eastern European sites?

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee today cut its fund rate three-quarter of a percentage point to 3.5 percent in response to worsening conditions in financial markets worldwide.

"The Committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth," the FOMC said in a statement. "Broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households."

The U.S. central bank's action was nothing but a knee-jerk reaction to events on global equity markets. Its impact will be immediate on the equity markets but the economy will be slower to react.

The lower Fed fund rate will serve only to reduce borrowing costs to the lucky few businesses and individuals. It won't increase the chances that cash strapped bankers will resume the nasty practices of granting sub-prime loans to people with questionable credits. My conclusion is that borrowing conditions will remain tight.

I’ve got news for Messrs. Paul Otellini and Hector Ruiz. Your companies, Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., respectively, will be impacted by the weakening U.S. economy.

If Intel and AMD escape unscathed in the current quarter and possibly in the second quarter, I promise to print out this article and chew it in public at any place chosen by either of the two gentlemen.

The two semiconductor industry executives said in recent statements that their companies did not feel the impact of the U.S. economic weakness during the fourth quarter.

Otellini, president and chief executive officer at Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company, noted during a presentation to analysts on Tuesday, January 15, that the outlook for the first quarter was not being dictated by economic concerns.

Nothing the executives had heard from industry sources indicate either company would feel a cold draft from the economy during the current quarter, they said.

I disagree. But first here’s what executives at the two companies had to say during their recent conference calls with analysts: