Chip market to hit $300 billion next year

GLOOMY PROGNOSES about the semiconductor industry won't stop the worldwide market hitting $300 billion worth of revenue in 2008, market research firm Isuppli claimed.

Senior analyst Gary Grandbois said that while most people were predicting only two per cent growth this year, Isuppli reckons it will be closer to six per cent. In April this year, Isuppli thought the figure would be 8.1 per cent. It's trimmed its forecast because of plunging memory chip prices plus overstock.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
$ millions	260,879	276,583	300,911	308,943	335,060	365,344
% growth	9.6%	6%	8.8%	2.7%	8.5%	9%

But semiconductor conditions still remain strong. "The market is fundamentally sound, despite the strong price erosion," Grandbois said. "The end equipment market is still vital with PC and handset unit growth expected to exceed 10 per cent.

Analysts are extrapolating weak pricing conditions in the first quarter will continue throughout the whole year. But Isuppli is more optimistic and thinks that pricing will improve in the second half. µ

L'INQ
Isuppli