To: Charles R who wrote (85406 ) 1/6/2000 2:06:00 AM From: tejek Respond to of 1572777
Chip sales are projected to grow 30% in 2000. ____________________________________________________________ Worldwide Semiconductor Sales Rose 18% in 1999, Dataquest Says 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. Jan/06/2000 1:00 For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. Any redistribution of Bloomberg content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Bloomberg L.P. Any reference to the material must be properly attributed to Bloomberg News. The information herein was obtained from sources which Bloomberg L.P. and its suppliers believe reliable, but they do not guarantee its accuracy. Neither the information, nor any opinion expressed, constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities.(C) Copyright 2000 Bloomberg L.P. BLOOMBERG, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Financial Markets, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg News Radio are trademarks, tradenames and service marks of Bloomberg L.P.