Semiconductor sales drop by 17 per cent

ANALYST OUTFIT Gartner has added up the figures and divided by its shoe size and come up with a claim that global semiconductor sales are set to drop by 17.1 per cent on last year's figures.

This year global semiconductor revenue is on course to hit $212 billion, a 17.1 per cent decline from 2008 revenue of $255 billion, Gartner claims in a report.

However this forecast is a lot less miserable than the 22.4 per cent decline Gartner had predicted earlier. Rather than say 'we cocked up in our earlier readings', the firm says this is because 'green shoots of recovery' have appeared in the chip market.

Some of the major semiconductor vendors have reported positive second quarter sequential revenue growth. Intel posted 12 per cent revenue growth, while Samsung announced its revenue increased by 30 per cent and Qualcomm reported a 35.7 per cent increase in its mobile chip sales, Gartner pointed out.

Bryan Lewis, VP of Research at Gartner said that the semiconductor market has performed better than expected. He said that demand for products using semiconductors was the key driver behind the growth in the market. Apparently the great unwashed really liked the drops in prices on PCs and LCD TVs.

The Chinese stimulus package worked remarkably well to boost short-term demand. Governments worldwide took action quickly and extensively to avoid a meltdown and apparently it's worked. So far. µ