The Chips Will Fall Where They May: Down
After a double-digit growth spurt in 2010, semiconductor sales are expected to decline to the single digits over the next two years. The latest forecast from the Semiconductor Industry Association predicts worldwide chip sales for 2010 will top out at $300.5 billion–a 33 percent spike over 2009 sales. Welcome news for the industry, since that’s significantly more than the $290.5 billion the SIA had predicted in June.
But things slow down a bit from there. For 2011, the association foresees only a 6 percent annual increase in sales. And in 2012 a rise of just 3.4 percent. That’s not quite what it predicted in June, when it envisioned 6.3 percent growth for 2011 and 2.9 percent growth for 2012.
So while there’s clearly been a resumption of growth in the semiconductor markets, it’s not yet a sustainable one–at least not at the levels we saw in 2010.
“We experienced record sales this year due to strong global demand across a broad range of end markets,” SIA President Brian Toohey said in a statement. “We expect more moderate growth through 2012 as the economy recovers and consumer confidence restores.”