Semiconductors

The latest edition of World Fab Forecast reveals that Fab spending, which includes construction and equipping Front-End Facilities, from R&Ds to volume fabs, is expected to increase to over $30B, about 88 percent growth year-over-year.

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the fourth calendar quarter of 2009 (4Q09) rose modestly, compared to 3Q09, but still achieved all-time record levels for a single quarter, according to the latest PC processor study. Notably, when compared to 4Q08, shipments in 4Q09 rose 31.3%. For the full year 2009, total PC processor unit shipments grew 2.5%, while revenue declined 7.1% to $28.6 billion.

According to a new technical market research report, ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION, the value of the global market for atomic layer deposition (ALD) materials and equipment is an estimated $199 million in 2009, but is expected to increase to $978 million in 2014, for a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.5%.

Cellular chipsets are the semiconductor engines that enable every mobile phone to connect to one another, so consequently, the stunning growth in mobile phones to over 1.1 billion last year has provided an equally stunning rise in the cellular chipset market. Increasingly, a greater percentage of cellular chipsets are being used in non-mobile phone applications, such as mobile computing (notebooks, netbooks), industrial/machine-to-machine (M2M), automotive, health/medical, and consumer devices (eReaders, MIDs, gaming devices).

According to a new technical market research report, DIELECTRICS AND SUBSTRATES IN SEMICONDUCTORS: TECHNOLOGIES AND GLOBAL MARKETS, the global market for dielectrics and substrates in semiconductors is an estimated $13.6 billion in 2009, but is expected to increase to $18.3 billion in 2014, for a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2%.

Third quarter sales results from the top 20 semiconductor producers illustrate once again why IC Insights has, since the beginning of this downturn, encouraged its clients to think quarterly about 2009! As shown below, the semiconductor industry continues to move through this silicon cycle very quickly as it recovers from recession.

ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS, the electronics industry market research and knowledge network, announces the availability of a new database report "Opto/LED Fab Watch". With the rise of eco-friendly or “green” lighting, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now in the spotlight. While LEDs represent a more efficient lighting solution, the cost of implementing LEDs in general purpose lighting has been comparatively prohibitive. However, with the push from government regulations and on-going technology advancement, the adoption of LEDs in major lighting applications is expected to quickly rise in the coming years.

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the third calendar quarter of 2009 (3Q09) rose substantially and to all-time record levels for a single quarter, according to new data. The data indicates that PC processor unit shipments in 3Q09 rose 23% compared to 2Q09, growth that is approximately double the normal growth in unit shipments for the same period. In terms of revenue, the PC processor market grew more than 14% quarter over quarter to $7.4 billion.

All of the old assumptions and forecasts regarding IC industry capacity trends are no longer valid. With companies struggling to survive the downturn, IC manufacturing strategies have been dramatically altered and changed forever!

Pure-play foundries are forecast to represent about 84% of total foundry sales in 2009, up from 81% in 2003. IC Insights believes that the pure-play/IDM foundry business mix will continue to shift slowly toward the pure-play companies even as some IDMs (e.g., Samsung, GlobalFoundries, Toshiba, etc.) increase their emphasis on the foundry market.