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By Mel Duvall

A pair of industry reports are pointing to surging demand for computer chips, as the consumer appetite for PCs, wireless devices and tablets takes off.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported Aug. 2 that worldwide semiconductor sales in the second quarter totaled $74.8 billion, up from $51.7 billion in the same period a year ago. That figure was up 7.1 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

In a separate report, market research firm iSuppli painted an even rosier picture of the market, saying it was on “steroids” and that unprecedented demand could result in the largest growth in the history of the chip industry.

iSuppli now predicts global semiconductor revenue in 2010 will rise by 35.1 percent to reach $310.3 billion, up from $229.6 billion in 2009. iSuppli’s previous forecast, issued in May, predicted growth of 30.9 percent this year.

“The semiconductor market already was in for beefy growth in 2010 because of strong consumer demand for electronic products,” iSuppli senior vice president Dale Ford said. “However, it’s now apparent that semiconductor sales are getting an infusion of growth hormone in 2010 because of a number of factors, including rising prices, inventory buildups and richer chip content in key electronic products like smartphones, and advanced LCD-TVs.”

“All this is causing chip revenue to bulge to awesome dimensions this year,” he added.

The SIA noted that the surge in demand wasn’t only being driven by the increasing popularity of electronic devices. It said a return in demand for automotive vehicles, which are now big users of computer chips, helped drive sales as well as a return in demand for a wide range of consumer goods.

“Macroeconomic factors, such as consumer confidence, job growth and overall economic growth continue to bear watching for their possible impact on sales in the second half,” said SIA president Brian Toohey. Looking at specific market segments, iSuppli predicts the memory category will see the strongest growth in 2010. DRAM revenue is expected to rise by more than 86 percent, while NAND flash memory will grow by 33 percent. This will result in an overall memory segment increase of 56 percent for the year.

Comments (2)

	1. 08-07-2010 03:56
	Very interesting trend; it's great to see indicators of economic recovery, and yet other key indicators like unemployment numbers still suggest that the recovery is not yet in full swing. It will be interesting to see how this projection actually plays out for the rest of 2010. Registered

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	2. 08-22-2010 18:01
	Well these definately shows a nice picture for the the overall worldwide economy and does take a bit of the sting off those who say the economy is still getting worse or at best standing still. Employment is a lagging indicator when it relates to consumer spending so I see this as a sign things continue to get better.    -sean Registered

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