Thu, 6 Jan 2000, 4:08am EST
bloomberg.com
London, Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Worldwide sales of
semiconductors rose 18 percent in 1999 and Intel Corp., the
world's biggest chipmaker, continued to dominate the market,
according to Gartner Group Inc.'s Dataquest unit.
Semiconductor sales rose to $160 billion in 1999, from $136
billion the year before, the biggest rise since 1995. Intel's
sales of $26 billion, which were $16 billion ahead of second-
placed NEC Corp., gave it 16.1 percent of the market.
Rapid growth in Internet use, mobile phones and the use of
chips in automobiles spurred sales. Growth has been the most rapid
in the U.S. because of the rate at which the Internet has been
adopted, Dataquest said. It expects sales to rise at a much higher
rate in the next few years as the rest of the world catches up.
''The Internet is the key factor driving sales, but this is
not abnormal growth'' said Joe D'Elia, chief analyst for
Dataquest's Semiconductors Europe program, in an interview. ''Next
year I anticipate growth of nearly 30 percent.''
D'Elia said the semiconductor market is cyclical and forecast
a slump in the second half of 2003 after four years of strong
growth.
Second-placed NEC sold semiconductors worth $9.2 billion, up
12 percent from 1998. Toshiba was the third biggest seller with
$7.6 billion, up 28 percent.
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second largest memory
chip maker, showed the biggest increase in sales, with 1999
revenue up almost 50 percent to $4.7 billion. D'Elia said this was
due to its market dominance in dynamic random access memory chips,
or DRAMs, the biggest-selling type.
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Gateway Expects Lower Than Anticipated Fourth Quarter Revenues and Earnings
"Supply of key processors and motherboards was severely constrained, spotty and unreliable, particularly in our consumer sweetspot in the $999 to $1299 price range."
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