Following a 2.5% decline in 2012, the global semiconductor market has regained its footing in 2013 with revenues set to expand by nearly 5% because of the strong performance of the memory sector, according to IHS.

　　Global semiconductor sales in 2013 will amount to US$317.9 billion, up 4.9% from US$302.9 billion in 2012, said IHS. Market growth is being driven by the strong expansion of the DRAM and NAND flash memory markets, which are expected to rise by 35.0% and 27.7%, respectively, in 2013.

　　Partly because of its success in the booming DRAM and NAND markets, US-based Micron Technology will grow by an industry-leading 109.2% in 2013, catapulting the company up the semiconductor market's ranks to No. 4 in 2013, rising from No. 10 in 2012, IHS noted.

　　"Memory chips are coming to the rescue of the semiconductor business in 2013," said Dale Ford, head of electronics and semiconductor research at IHS. "Solid pricing and expanding demand for DRAM and NAND in smartphones and tablets have caused revenue for these memory devices to surge. Without these two high-performing product segments, the semiconductor industry would attain zero growth this year."

　　Micron is expected to end the year with US$14.2 billion in semiconductor revenues, more than doubling its US$6.8 billion total in 2012, IHS indicated. In addition to its success in DRAM and NAND, Micron's growth in 2013 is being propelled by its acquisition of Elpida Memory. Micron's share of the total semiconductor market will more than double to 4.5% in 2013, up from 2.2% in 2012, IHS said.

　　Also benefiting from the memory boom is SK Hynix of South Korea, whose chip revenues are on track to expand by 48.7% in 2013, IHS indicated. The company will jump to No. 5 in the semiconductor market rankings in 2013, up from No. 7 in 2012. SK Hynix's performance is all the more outstanding since it was entirely driven by organic sales growth - and not by any acquisitions.

　　Qualcomm's incredible success in the wireless world continues to drive it to the top of the semiconductor industry. The US company is set to attain 31.6% semiconductor growth in 2013, causing it to gain1.2pp of share and take 5.5% of total semiconductor market revenues, IHS said. No. 3-ranked Qualcomm's strong growth in 2013 will allow it to narrow its market share gap with industry leaders Intel and Samsung Electronics.

　　Sony, Renesas Electronics and Rohm Semiconductor are set to deliver disappointing results with expected declines of 28.1%, 15.3% and 14.3%, respectively, IHS said. As a result, Renesas will drop all the way to No. 10, down from No. 6 in 2012, and Sony will fall to No. 15, declining from No. 11. Rohm Semiconductor will completely fall out of the ranks of the Top 20.

　　Texas Instruments and Nvidia also are struggling in 2013 with the companies suffering declines of 5.5% and 5.6%, respectively, IHS indicated.

　　Intel will maintain its status as the No. 1 semiconductor supplier, but its projected semiconductor revenue decline of 1.0% means it will drop from its historically high 15.7% share of the market in 2012 to 14.8% in 2013, IHS said.

　　In addition, of the major application markets for semiconductors, the hot wireless segment will drive the largest increase in semiconductor consumption of chips in 2013, according to IHS. Semiconductor revenues from wireless communications products are projected to grow by 11.7% in 2013.

　　The next fastest-expanding application will be industrial electronics, with double-digit semiconductor sales growth of 10.7%, said IHS. Semiconductor revenues driven by consumer electronics products will decline, with a drop of 5.2%.

　　Asia-Pacific will lead all regions in terms of consumption of semiconductors with growth of 8.9% in 2013, IHS noted. The Americas will not be far behind with a 5.0% increase. Japan will experience a decline of 7.9%.

　　Beyond the DRAM and NAND segments, other products that will yield healthy growth in 2013 are expected to be LEDs with 9.5%, CMOS image sensors at 5.7%, standard logic up by 4.2%, sensors and actuators by 3.6% and analog application-specific ICs with 3.5%, according to IHS.

　　Markets experiencing significant declines will be CCD image sensors, which are expected to plunge by 40.6%; specialty memory, with a 19.6% drop; digital signal processors, down by 16.5%; SRAM declining by 15.9%; NOR flash memory falling by 14.8% and logic ASICs, with an 11.6% decrease, according to IHS.