The top five high growth markets driving (semiconductor) recovery

PHOENIX, USA: Many in the semiconductor industry believe it will take multiple years to return to 2007 sales levels, and growth will not reach double digits any time soon. With 2009 expected to decline 12.5 percent, it can be hard to see the positive growth occurring right now.

Jim Feldhan, president of Semico Research sees a change in consumer buying patterns. The new consumer is a “value consumer,” opting for goods that improve our lifestyle, such as netbooks, portable navigation devices, DTVs, DVD recorders, and video game consoles -- the top five markets featured in Semico’s new report.

Netbooks have recently made a “splash” in the computing arena. Consumers seeking more portability with a smaller price tag look to netbooks for Internet connectivity, emailing, and social networking and have jumped all over these smaller form factor computing devices.

In 2009, netbook shipments will reach an estimated 12.5 million units. By 2013, Tony Massimini, Semico’s Chief Technology Officer, projects netbook shipments to reach 59.5 million units. Revenue during this timeframe will see a 27.4 percent CAGR increase.

At Semico, we track over 40 end use markets in the Consumer, Computing, Wired and Wireless Communication segments. From these 40 markets, Semico identified the markets listed above as the highest growth segments. Combined, the total available market for these five markets is expected to increase from $31,514 million in 2009 to $68,402 million in 2013, a 21.4 percent CAGR.

For those of you charged with deciding which products to invest in, it’s important to know where the growth is occurring, and how that growth is affecting your industry. The aforementioned data is only a small sampling of what’s included in Semico’s latest report.

The 5 High Growth Markets report is ready to download at http://semico.com/studies/chronological.asp#1248.