2008: Five brakes on the global chip market

Market research firm iSuppli had to lower the estimated sales of the global semiconductor industry in 2008, citing customers' chances of canceling the deal out of fear of the financial crisis.

Specifically, the expected revenue in 2008 will only reach 291.4 billion USD - an increase of 7.5% compared with the figure of 270.9 billion USD this year. Previously, in September, iSuppli had forecast growth of 9.3%.

" The specter of a financial crisis is weighing on everyone's sentiment. The manufacturer may cancel or reduce orders, so global revenue will be slowed down. The increase will also significantly affect the semiconductor chip market in general, " said iSuppli.

As expected, the market will be particularly weak in the first half of 2008, with revenue falling by 4.5% compared to the last 6 months of 2007.

General haunt

Source: BusinessWeek Memory chip prices will fall "dramatically" due to oversupply, and this product will account for 21.6% of total world chip industry revenue in 2008.

" The market will recover in the second half of next year, but if the economic recession happens, growth will not be as expected ," iSuppli warned.

Along with lowering the forecast revenue for the semiconductor industry, iSuppli has also revised its expectations for the electronics market.

Global sales of this market will increase 6.6% from this year, reaching 1.6 trillion USD - which is 0.4 percentage points lower than iSuppli's previous forecast. This adjustment, according to iSuppli's explanation, stems from the slowdown of laptops, high-end mobile phones and digital TVs.

However, the expected turnover of 2007 was adjusted to increase, from 6.8% to 7.4% due to the strong consumption of notebooks and mobile phones.

Trong Cam