Monday, May 10, 2010

Global Semiconductor Market Grows by 30 Percent

The Inquirer

The worldwide semiconductor market has grown by 30 per cent according to Isuppli.

The last time this happened Bill Clinton was US President, Gladiator was topping the box office and the dot-com boom was so exciting that everyone thought the buyout of AOL by Time Warner was a good idea.

In 2000 the semiconductor industry expanded by 36.7 per cent. This year the chip market is expected to finally break 30 per cent growth once again. Revenue is set to rise to $300.3 billion, up 30.6 per cent from $229.9 billion in 2009.

Dale Ford, senior vice president of market intelligence services at Isuppli said that unlike in 2000, growth in chip sales this year will be driven by supply factors that slowly have been gaining momentum during the past year.

After the expansion in sales that followed the downturn in late 2008 and early 2009, the semiconductor industry is set to achieve remarkable revenue growth and record size in 2010, he said.

Chip sales growth this year will be fuelled by strong consumer demand for hot electronic products, diligent inventory and capacity management efforts among chip makers and the arrival of innovative technologies at both the component and end-system levels.

This year will mark an all-time annual high for global semiconductor revenue, eclipsing the previous record of $274 billion set in 2007 by about nine per cent.

Ford said that 2010 is bringing a return to normal semiconductor market conditions after the aberrant industry performance in 2009, when chip sales plunged due to external economic conditions.

While semiconductor sales growth in 2010 is impressive, it still needs to be viewed in context of the dismal results that prevailed in 2009, Ford said.