There's been an undertone of concern by analysts that some of this recent strength in chip orders may be due to double booking where companies are ordering similar chips from different distributors etc. so that basically there may be a false overly optimistic notion of chip demand. It seems almost a bit of a suspicious obsession with some analysts as there have been times in years past when it was an issue. Most companies that have been asked this have said they see no evidence of it. Now a new report from iSuppli confirms this demand is pretty much all real with no evidence of double booking:

* Wednesday, October 28, 2009 ET

No Chip Glut, Says iSuppli
By Tiernan Ray

Those of you worried inventories could be starting to pile up in semiconductor land — see my earlier post re the Roth Capital analysis — have no fear: research firm iSuppli this afternoon sent out a missive to alert folks that there is “no double booking in this semiconductor recovery.”

“Despite fears that buyers are inflating semiconductor purchases in order to guarantee adequate supplies, there’s no indication that chip purchasers are engaging in double booking,” states the iSuppli note.

Chip suppliers in their earnings announcements have said they see no double-orders, says iSuppli analyst Carlo Ciriello, which means the current recovery “accurately reflects real demand levels,” he states in the release.

The release goes on to cite favorite passages from recent semi earnings reports, including

* “…we don’t have any evidence of double ordering,” noted Texas Instruments (TXN);
* “(We are) following every week the run rate of bookings from major customers—be they distributors or OEMs—and (we) do not see any major discrepancy in the last three months,” said STMicroelectronics (STM);
* “…we have seen no evidence whatsoever of any double ordering,” Intersil (ISIL) observed.

The note follows iSuppli’s press release yesterday, which said semiconductor revenue should rise 10.6%, year over year, in the fourth quarter. Semi revenue is expected to be down 16.5% this year compared to a 5.4% decrease in 2008.