14 DAY TRIAL // The past month has been loaded with news of how most, if not all, hardware makers and PC suppliers have seen on-year and sequential sales and revenue growth. As such, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the industry itself has, more or less, gotten back on its feet after two dismal years (2008 and 2009). Market research firm iSupply even came out and confirmed this hypothesis, making a very promising forecast for the chip industry.
Apparently, sales have picked up, to the point where the market analyst suggests that 2010 may be the year when the 30% revenue increase barrier is once again overcome. The chip business set a record in 2000, when it presented an on-year jump of 36.7 percent. Now, after the weak performance of 2009 and the segment's fast recovery during the first quarter of the ongoing year, iSupply states that revenue should rise to $300.3 billion, 30.6 percent higher than last year's $229.9 billion.
“Semiconductor sales most commonly decline in the seasonally slow first quarter compared to the peak holiday period in the fourth quarter,” Ford observed. “However, in 2010, first-quarter chip sales expanded by 1.1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. This is the first time the industry has achieved sequential growth in the first quarter since 2004, and it represents the strongest growth during the period since 2002, when revenue grew by 5.4 percent.”
“Building on the continuing 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,” said Dale Ford, senior vice president, market intelligence services, for iSuppli. “Chip sales growth this year will be fueled by a number of key factors, including continued 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.”
DRAM revenue growth is expected to be one of the key factors behind this performance, as is strong consumer demand for new electronics. Mobile handsets and LCD-TVs should also perform admirably.