The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) expects the worldwide market to surpass US$300 billion by end of 2011 for the first time in semiconductor history, yet reflects a less-than-average growth of 1.3% over the previous banner-year 2010.
An oversupply in PC/notebook DRAM resulted in a sharp decline in memory revenues, though the overall market has been offset by healthy growth in microcontroller ICs, sensors and discrete semiconductor segments, WSTS said. Total revenues for 2011 are projected to be US$302 billion.
Looking forward, WSTS forecast the worldwide semiconductor market will grow by a healthier 2.6% to US$310 billion in 2012 followed by 5.8% growth to top US$328 billion in 2013.