By Jim Finkle
BOSTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Semiconductors sales are set to rise at an compound
annual rate of 9 percent through 2009 on strong consumer demand for
electronics products such as mobile phones, and music players, an industry
trade group said on Thursday.
The Semiconductor Industry Association forecast sales increases of 9.4 percent
to $248.8 billion this year, 10 percent to $273.8 billion in 2007, 10.8
percent to $303.4 billion in 2008 and 5.8 percent to $321 billion in 2009.
Besides the growing cell phone and digital music player markets, the
semiconductor industry is also benefiting from rising consumer demand for
products such as cameras, televisions, automobiles laden with advanced
electronics and high-performance computers for video gamers, SIA President
George Scalise said in a statement.
The association said it expected unit sales of mobile handsets to climb more
than 20 percent this year to more than 1 billion. With an average of $41 worth
of chips in each handset, cell phones are now the second-largest user of
semiconductors after personal computers, the SIA said.
Sales of microprocessor chips, which run computers, are expected to fall 5
percent this year to $33.2 billion, although the association forecast that
they would grow to $41.9 billion in 2009.
The association also said digital signal processor chip sales were likely to
increase 12.8 percent to $8.6 billion this year and hit $12.3 billion in 2009.
These specialized chips convert audio, video and other real-world information
into digital data that computers can easily manipulate.
SIA said it expected DRAM computer memory sales to climb 29 percent to $33
billion this year, rising to $44.2 billion in 2009.
It expects sales of flash memory, which stores data on digital cameras, music
players and cell phones, to increase 10.4 percent this year to $20.5 billion
and hit $25.7 billion in 2009.
Major semiconductor makers include global market leader Intel Corp. <INTC.O>,
Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. <005930.K>, the biggest producer of
memory chips; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. <2330.TW>, the
largest contract manufacturer.
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