Semiconductor industry posts nearly 19% growth in 1999
By Staff -- Purchasing, 3/23/2000
Worldwide semiconductor sales surged 18.9% to $149 billion in 1999, a new industry record, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA)."Year-end global sales broke all predictions and industry sales records and was an exceptional year of growth and productivity for our industry," says George Scalise, SIA president. "Led by strong seasonal demand for communication products and personal computers, microprocessors grew 9.8% in 1999, totaling $27.2 billion. We witnessed across-the-board growth in all markets, and product demand was strong in all regions of the world," says Scalise. "Sales were extremely strong for flash memory, chipsets and dram due to demand for Internet infrastructure, e-commerce and wired and wireless communication."
SIA forecasts over 20% growth in 2000 and 2001, with connectivity applications such as cellular phones and the Internet continuing to see robust growth. Cellular phone sales are projected to grow from over 200 million units in 1999 to over a billion by 2003. Devices connected to the Internet (PCs, information appliances and Internet-enabled cell phones) are expected to grow from some 200 million units in 1999 to over 700 million in 2003. E-commerce will contribute to both of these trends, growing from $50 billion in 1998 to $1.3 trillion in 2003.
Digital signal processors continued to support a broader base of applications resulting in sales growth of 25.7% in 1999, totaling $4.4 billion due to demand for wireless communications applications. DSPs, flash memory and dedicated telecom circuits are expected to lead the growth phase of the semiconductor market. These products support the emerging applications and will grow at more than 20% over the next four years.
Also driving growth was a strong rebound in the Asia Pacific market and Japan. In 1999, Japan and Asia Pacific markets grew at 26.7% and 28.9%, respectively, from last year.
In the Americas, the personal computer (PC) continues to dominate the market, although the rapid growth of Internet usage is increasing demand for servers, network components and other Internet infrastructure. Europe's sales grew 8.4% in 1999. Europe's growth is driven in large part by European unification, which deregulated Europe's telecom markets and sparked a revolution in wireless communication.
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