Dan:
SiRev shows the IC market revenue per square inch of silicon produced in the
month. This data set is an indicator of
the relative health of the chip industry from a manufacturing perspective. One area where this metric was useful was in
recognizing that 2002's start was false and had no traction. Even though revenues were on the upswing and
capacity was being ramped at the time, production was swamping revenue. So the Revenue-Per-Square-Inch (RPSI)
declined. In late 2002, there was a much
steadier increase in both revenue and production, where RPSI rose steadily,
once the seasonally soft 1Q was passed.
At $30 per square inch, the chip industry should be
profitable.
RPSI of capacity gives an idea of how the infrastructure is fairing, with the
gap mirroring market conditions.
EPSI, Equipment Spending Per Square Inch, gives an indication of the amount of
spending that is occurring relative to production.
EPSI tends to be a lagging indicator. In
contrast, RPSI is a leading indicator.
