Monday January 5, 2:41 pm Eastern Time
World semiconductor revenues up 5.5 pct in 1997
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan 5 (Reuters) - The worldwide semiconductor market reached $150 billion in total revenues in
1997, with 5.5 percent growth, according to preliminary data released by Dataquest Inc.
Intel Corp (Nasdaq:INTC - news) remained the world market leader in 1997, with an 18.6 percent jump in
semiconductor revenues, Dataquest said. Intel's semiconductor revenues surpassed $21 billion in 1997, led by
microprocessor growth.
Dataquest said weakening currencies in South Korea and Japan exacerbated low memory chip prices, leading to
another year of revenue decline or no growth for memory-dependent chip firms.
Dataquest, a market research unit of Gartner Group Inc (Nasdaq:GART - news), said NEC Corp (Nasdaq:NIPNY
- news; 6701.T) retained its number two position, with $10.65 billion in semiconductor revenues and 2.2 percent
growth. Motorola Inc (NYSE:MOT - news) maintained its number three position, with $8.1 billion in semiconductor
revenues and 0.5 percent growth.
Texas Instruments Inc (NYSE:TXN - news) moved up to number four with $7.66 billion in semiconductor revenues,
from number six last year. Texas Instruments also had the second biggest growth rate in semiconductors, with 8.4
percent growth, due to its fast-growing digital signal processor business.
Toshiba Corp (6502.T), again ranked number five with $7.5 billion in semiconductor revenues, saw its
semiconductor revenues decline seven percent.
Hitachi Ltd (NYSE:HIT - news; 6980.T) had a big drop in its semiconductor revenues, which fell 19.2 percent to
$6.5 billion. Hitachi's ranking also dropped to number six, from four in 1996, Dataquest said. |
