The following are some of the major setbacks announced by technology companies so far this year:

March 9th: Intel says first quarter sales to miss already reduced forecasts.

March 7th: Yahoo! issues first quarter profit warning.

March 1st: Gateway, which employs more than 1,700 people in the Republic, issues second profit warning in two months.

WorldCom announces plans to fire 6,000 staff, 7 per cent of global workforce.

February 27th: Trintech results below analysts' expectations.

February 23rd: Motorola warns of possible a first-quarter loss.

February 22nd: Oracle third quarter profits miss forecasts.

Sun Microsystems, which employs 250 people in Dublin, lowers earnings forecast.

February 21st: Intel plans to cut expenses by "several hundred millions dollars" this year.

February 20th: VA Linux Systems reports a bigger than expected loss for its second quarter.

February 6th: Cisco Systems misses earnings expectations and warns that next few quarters would b e challenging.

January 18th: Microsoft, which employs about 2,000 in Ireland, says quarterly profits are virtually unchanged from a year ago, meeting lowered forecasts, and cautioned that it expected a tough road ahead.