Global semiconductor revenues to lift almost 20% this year to USD 411.1 bln - study

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are expected to reach USD 411.1 billion this year, up almost  of 20 percent from the year before, according to Gartner, which said the rise was strongest since the 2010 recovery from the financial crisis when revenue increased by 31.8 percent. 

The semiconductor market is expected to lift 4 percent in 2018 to USD 427.4 billion. For 2019, the market is forecast to decline 1 percent as the memory market turns with leading vendors adding new supply.

For this year, memory continues to lead the semiconductor market and is expected to advance 57 percent this year as supply and demand dynamics drive prices higher. A shortage of memory, and in particular DRAM, is also pushing semiconductor revenues up. Strength is spreading to other semiconductor categories as well with nonoptical sensors, analogue, discretes and image sensors all forecast to grow over 10 percent in 2017. 

Going into the fourth quarter, the study highlighted concerns around higher memory costs and component shortages. "Memory is driving the bill-of-materials cost higher across electronic equipment categories and we are starting to see increased costs get passed on by OEMs through higher pricing," Gartner said.