Date: 30th July 2010

IC Insights: Worldwide semiconductor market to increase by 30% over 2009

According to the IC Insights' McClean Report 2010, worldwide semiconductor market is forecasted to register a $72 billion increase in the revenue, this surpasses the previous record high of $59 billion, set in 2000, by 22%. The growth in 2010 would equate to a growth rate of 30% over 2009, which would be the sixth largest jump in the past 32 years and the highest since the 37% in 2000.

The release states a large percentage of this increase is forecast to be converted into a rush of capital spending by the semiconductor producers. The mid-year update, 2010 has stated that semic onductor industry capital spending is expected to surge by $21.4 billion, an 83% jump over 2009.

According to IC Insights, although worldwide GDP is forecast to grow by 3.9% in 2010, this growth rate is only 0.3 point above the long-term average rate of 3.6%. The driving force behind this growth is in the PC and smartphone segments. In 2010, PC unit volume shipments are forecast to grow by at least 18%, to 338 million, with smartphone unit sales expected to surge by 21% to 275 million. According to IC Insights the shipments in the second half of this year is forecasted to increase by at least 10% as compared to the first half.