Gartner, the internationally-renowned research firm, has delivered an upbeat forecast for chip sales next year. For 2011, Gartner said that the semiconductor industry will have generated a little over $302 billion in chips during the year, representing a year-on-year rise of 0.9 percent.
In light of the worldwide economic downturn through the late 2000s, this represents a successful recovery. Earlier this year, Gartner projected that worldwide semiconductor revenues would climb by 5.1 percent in 2011, hitting $314 billion.
In September, however, when it was apparent that the macroeconomic situation was undermining consumer confidence, Gartner revised its forecast, saying that it would actually decline by a tenth of a point. Gartner has now claimed that 2011 will actually transpire to be better than its September estimate, reaching $302 billion.
And for next year, Gartner has said that it expects 2012 growth to be 2.2 percent, reaching $308.7 billion.
"With continuing concern over the future of the Eurozone affecting the global economy, the high degree of uncertainty impacting spending by both consumers and enterprises looks set to continue, bringing with it significant implications for the semiconductor industry," Bryan Lewis, research vice-president at Gartner, explained.
"The near-term forecast is being shaped not only by economic forces but by an inventory correction, manufacturing oversupply and natural disasters," he commented.
Furthermore, Gartner suggested that PC unit shipments will increase by five percent in 2012, which is half the stunted growth rate of this year. Mobile phones, meanwhile, are predicted to see a 7.5 percent shipment increase, while tablets are anticipated to slow a bit. Despite this, the research firm said that the lucrative market will see 63 percent growth.
Semiconductor equipment sales will also increase by an impressive 19.2 percent in 2013, hitting $61.6 billion, according to Gartner, which claimed that growth will be a few points a year after that.
Intel will lead the chip racket market in 2011, the research firm said, predicting that it would see revenues of just over $51billion, giving the semiconductor giant a 16.9 percent share of the worldwide market.
Samsung will rank second with $29.2 billion in sales, followed by Texas Instruments with $12.1 billion, Gartner said.