Semiconductor market in 2013, the year end estimation by IHS and Gartner

IHS has reported the global semiconductor sales in 2013 will amount to $317.9 billion, up 4.9 percent from $302.9 billion in 2012. IHS says market growth is being driven by the strong expansion of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory markets, which are expected to rise by 35.0 percent and 27.7 percent, respectively, in 2013. “Memory chips are coming to the rescue of the semiconductor business in 2013,” said Dale Ford, head of electronics and semiconductor research at IHS. “Solid pricing and expanding demand for DRAM and NAND in smartphones and tablets have caused revenue for these memory devices to surge. Without these two high-performing product segments, the semiconductor industry would attain zero growth this year.” Another market researcher Gartner has reported the worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled $315.4 billion in 2013, a 5.2 percent increase from 2012 revenue of $299.9 billion, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. The top 25 semiconductor vendors' combined revenue increased 6.2 percent, a significantly better performance than the rest of the market, whose revenue growth was 2.9 percent. Gartner also attributes the growth to memory saying "This was, in part, due to the concentration of memory vendors, which saw significant growth in the top ranking." "After a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth ...