The market for portable electronics products will continue to grow as more functionality gets designed into smaller devices. The number of portable equipment units such as cell phones and personal digital assistants will rise from 500 million in 2002 to 1.5 billion in 2007, according to market researcher In-Stat MDR. In 2003, the largest sellers in the portable segment were mobile phones and Bluetooth-enabled equipment. Other portable products include digital cameras, notebook PCs and MP3 players.

The portable market will continue to be an important driver of the semiconductor industry, especially for flash memory manufacturers. All portable products have an almost universal need for flash. The flash market is expected to grow from $11.1 billion in 2003 to $15.4 billion in 2004.