Some bellwether components and mobile device makers this week announced bailouts of sorts. Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea said Wednesday it was granted a loan of 800 billion Korean won (US$600 million) from its creditors, to help weather the crisis and the DRAM downturn.

Smartphone maker Palm kicked off the week announcing it would receive a cash infusion of $100 million from venture capital firm Elevation Partners, to help launch new products in 2009. Palm last week reported revenue of $191.6 million for the second quarter ending Nov. 30, down from $349.6 million it reported a year earlier.

But the recession is affecting all areas of IT. Gartner this month forecast that worldwide spending on enterprise software will reach $244 billion in 2009, down from its prediction of $253 billion made in September.

In the last year the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, at 1524 during Friday afternoon trading, has lost about 45 percent in value. Overall global IT sales are expected to barely climb into the positive territory by the end of 2009, assuming as most economists do that the recession comes to end by mid-year. If the macroeconomic news doesn't clear up over the next six months, users will need to brace for some IT suppliers to go the way of the failed investment banks.