SIA forecasts chip market to total $218 billion in 2004

NOVEMBER 8--Spurred by sales of personal computers, wireless communications solutions, and consumer products, the global semiconductor industry will recover from the inventory build that occurred in 2000 and the weak end-market equipment demand in 2001. The industry will begin to recover in the fourth quarter of 2001 and will continue with slow growth throughout 2002. It will then return to a traditional growth pattern with 21% consecutive increases in sales for 2003 and 2004, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA; San Jose, CA; www.sia-online.org) has reported.

In its annual semiconductor forecast, the SIA projected that while global semiconductor sales would decrease 31% this year to $141 billion, the industry would conversely report growth of 6% in 2002 to $150 billion, 21% growth in 2003 to $181 billion, and 21% in 2004, totaling $218 billion worldwide.

Semiconductor product categories that will lead this expansion include digital signal processors (DSPs), analog, MOS logic, microprocessors, Flash, and microcontrollers.

"History shows that through upturns and downturns, this industry has always grown over the long-term, and while the exact timing and shape of the coming recovery is hard to predict, recovery is certain," concluded Texas Instruments chief operating officer and executive vice president Rich Templeton.