The sky is falling, again. Excuse me for saying so, but doesn't it seem like analysts are trying get their 15 minutes of fame during this "economic downturn." And, in doing so, don't you get the feeling that they're actually making things worse? Projected profits failing to hit the level they were expected to is not the same thing as losing money or failing to turn a profit. Take, for example, the semiconductor industry. After two years of semiconductor growth, worldwide revenue is projected to be $168.1 billion, a 26 percent decline from 2000, according to a recent forecast by Dataquest. In 2000, worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled $226 billion. $168.1 billion, however, is still a pretty good sized chunk of change. Dataquest says the biggest uncertainty for the semiconductor industry is when the decline will stop. Dataquest analysts said price stabilization, longer device lead times and improved demand for memory products are the industry's indicators that signal turning points in semiconductor cycles. Overall, semiconductor prices were still declining in May and June of this year. In the analog sector, prices have been stable for proprietary analog products. The analysts said lower unit sales are responsible for revenue declines. (I don't really think you need to be an analyst to figure that part out.) Dataquest does, however, see some signs of hope. It sees indications from the Asia/Pacific region that orders from American and European companies for motherboard, notebook, and even cellular phones are increasing, and that the "bottom" for some semiconductor and systems companies was hit in the second quarter of 2001. From a grass roots perspective, I can tell you that we've seen a ton of new chips released in the past few months. The chip manufacturers don't make these things for fun, so we can only ascertain that there must be plans to put the little gadgets into devices that consumers will buy.