The SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) opened yesterday with the theme “Smart, Intuitive & Connected: Semiconductor Devices Transforming the World.” The annual three-day conference of C-level executives gives the year’s first comprehensive outlook of the global electronics manufacturing industry.

Len Jelinek, IHS Marketing, forecast total semiconductor revenue growth of 7.4 percent in 2018, with memory growing by 14 percent and all other semiconductors by 4.5 percent. The growth will be fueled largely by consumer electronics, with 70 percent of chips ending up in consumers’ hands. Significant drivers include Internet of Things (IoT), a technology ubiquitous at last week’s CES conference, Jelinek said. He sees kitchen appliances sparking significant IoT growth, eventually enabling consumers to “voice-command your whole kitchen.”