Global Chip Sales to Increase in 2004, Gartner Says (Update4)
March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Global chip sales may surge as much as 30 percent this year on demand for semiconductors used in consumer electronics such as camera-equipped cell phones and digital cameras, technology market researcher Gartner Inc. said.
Intel Corp. the world's top chipmaker in 2003, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., the second biggest, benefited as chip sales rose 14 percent to $177 billion last year. Sales will rise between 20 percent and 30 percent this year, Stanford, Connecticut-based Gartner said in a press release.
Gartner joins other industry researchers such as IC Insights Inc. and IDC in forecasting a recovery in demand for chips as businesses and consumers replace their computers. Demand for so- called NAND flash memory, which are chips geared for consumer electronics such as digital cameras and mobile phones, is also fueling industry growth, Gartner said.
``More and more, we're seeing evidence that semiconductor demand is going to be better than people thought,'' said Kim Seong Ki, who manages the equivalent of $300 million at Chohung Investment Trust Management Co. in Seoul. ``NAND looks especially good.''
Image Sensors
Image sensors, used in digital cameras and camera-phones, and NAND flash memory, used to store pictures when gadgets are turned off, ``drove amazing growth'' last year, Jeremey Donovan, vice president for Gartner Dataquest's worldwide semiconductor group, said. Demand will rise in a wider range of products in 2004, Gartner said.
The forecast will reinforce investor confidence in the chip sector, said investors such as Kyobo Investment Trust Management Co.'s Kim Joong Il.
``Although there have been indications that chip demand was on the rise, it's significant for an institution like Gartner to come out with such a forecast officially,'' said Kim, who manages the equivalent of $390 million at Kyobo in Seoul.
Kyobo's Kim said he may buy shares of semiconductor-related companies such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., a component maker for consumer electronics, because of rising chip demand.
Still, ``we're waiting to see whether this will translate to the record earnings,'' he said.
The following is a table with the revenue of the world's largest chipmakers, in millions of dollars, last year, according to Gartner.
2003 2002
Intel 27,103 23,692
Samsung 10,502 8,631
Renesas Technology 7,963 -
Texas Instruments 7,410 6,240
Toshiba 7,356 6,455
STMicroelectronics 7,180 6,355
Infineon Technologies 6,864 5,155
NEC Electronics 6,312 5,691
Motorola 4,628 4,781
Philips Semiconductors 4,513 4,361
Others 87,648 84,268
Total 177,452 155,629 |
