Global Semiconductor Sales Fell by 2.8% in 2008: SIA
Global sales of semiconductors were severely affected by the economic
turmoil in 2008 resulting in the first year-on-year drop in sales
since 2001, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported
today (Feb. 2). Total sales for 2008 were $248.6 billion compared to
$255.6 billion in 2007, a decrease of 2.8%.
Sales
fell from $22.3 billion in December 2007 to $17.4 billion in December
2008, a decline of 22%. December sales declined by 16.6% from November
2008 when sales were $20.9 billion.
Earlier, SIA had revealed that
worldwide sales of semiconductors declined
in November 2008 to $20.8 billion, a drop of 9.8% from November 2007
when sales were $23.1 billion.
“The
global economic recession severely dampened semiconductor sales in the
fourth quarter of 2008, historically a strong quarter for the
industry,” said SIA president George Scalise. “Weakening demand for
the major drivers of semiconductor sales – including automotive
products, personal computers, cell phones, and corporate information
technology products – resulted in a sharp drop in industry sales. Once
again, the steepest revenue declines were in the memory sector where
price pressure more than offset significant growth in total bit
shipments.”
According to reserach firm Gartner,
the worldwide semiconductor revenue will come
down 16.3% in 2009, with revenue of $219.2 billion. The
research firm also says that capital equipment spending in 2009 is
going to decline 31.7%. Recession is said to be the cause for
downturn.
In a
related survey
of over 1,445 U.S. executives, Deloitte says that 58.4% expect the
current
recession to continue for two to three more
years - till 2011.
The
impact of recession is being seen on
IT spending also. The budgets will
remain flat with a meagre 0.16% increase in 2009, according to results
from the 2009 CIO survey by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP). Another
researcher
IDC expects just 2.6% growth in
spending.
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