Gartner predicts rebound for Asia Pacific chip industry
by Tony Santiago, EETimes
Silicon Strategies
10/23/2003, 12:00 PM ET
SINGAPORE -- Despite recent losses reported by bellwether chip makers and contract manufacturers, the Asia Pacific semiconductor industry is rebounding, according to market watchers Gartner.
In a recent report, it said the region's semiconductor industry can look forward to annual sales growth of more than 15 percent over the next four years.
Gartner said semiconductor revenue in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be worth around $116.6 billion by 2007, more than double the 2002 figure of $57.6 billion. It also projected 18.5 percent growth this year with sales of $68.2 billion, citing a strong recovery in the second half after the first six months. Sales were adversely affected by the Sars outbreak in Asia.
Gartner said China and South Korea would lead the regional rebound in growth. The report estimated that semiconductor revenue in China and Hong Kong would be worth $28.4 billion this year, rising to $36.8 billion by 2004 and $54 billion in 2007.
Average annual growth for China-Hong Kong between 2002 and 2007 is projected to be 18.6 percent, second only to South Korea, where sales are expected to grow by 19 percent annually over the same period. The overall Korean semiconductor market is expected to gross over $12.4 billion in 2003. It is driven by growth in cellphones, digital consumer electronics products and flat-panel displays.
Next-generation mobile communications infrastructure, wireless LAN and wireless personal area networks are also seen stimulating long term growth in the Korean wireless market over the next five years.
Singapore meanwhile is expected to be hit even harder by the shift of low-end electronic production, mostly to China, with five-year annual growth projected to average only 4 percent to around $3.7 billion in revenue by 2007. |
