The problem is that chipmakers are simple businessmen who design their chips, take orders for them and then make the chips to meet them, and as far as they can see, everything in the garden still looks rosy. They are not in a position to monitor over-bookings closely, and so it is that Cypress Semiconductor Corp president T J Rodgers says that orders for its chips were very, very strong in October, continuing its momentum from the pace posted in the third quarter. Rodgers told a teleconference for reporters and analysts that the company has $13m in orders for the first two weeks of October, for a quarterly rate of $91m. In the third quarter Cypress had actual bookings of $81m. So bookings are very, very strong in October, Rodgers said. I think we all feel confident we are going to grow. For its fiscal third quarter (CI No 2,274 for the figures), gross margins rose to 41.1% from 39.5% the previous quarter. The company hopes to raise margins further in the current quarter with improvements from its main product line.
