World chip demand seen rising
msnbc.com
World chip demand seen rising
Global trade group sees demand up 2.3 percent in 2002
TOKYO, May 28 — Global demand for semiconductors is expected to edge up 2.3 percent in 2002, rebounding lightly after last year’s worst-ever 32.0 percent drop, World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Inc, an industry group, said on Tuesday.
THE ORGANIZATION also forecast that the market for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, a key product used in computers, would bounce 44.3 percent this year after last year’s devastating 61.3 percent plunge.
The global chip industry was battered by last year’s information technology slump, which saw a retreat in demand for traditionally high-growth products such as personal computers and cell phones.
The industry’s woes were compounded by high inventories built up during the IT boom.
The collapse in DRAM prices saddled many chipmakers with huge operating losses, triggering a takeover drama at South Korea’s debt-burdened Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s third-largest DRAM maker, and spurring Toshiba Corp, Japan’s largest chipmaker, to quit the business.
For the chip market as a whole, the WSTS forecast that, following this year’s modest 2.3 percent recovery to $142.2 billion, growth rates would pick up to 21.7 percent in 2003 and 14.5 percent in 2004. In 2005, growth is expected to slow again to 3.2 percent, although this would still be enough to push the market above the record of $204.4 billion set in 2000.
The figures from WSTS, covering 67 major chipmakers worldwide, were released by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). |
