Communications semicon market projected to grow 20 percent in 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: On the back of renewed enterprise spending in the first half of 2010, the wired communications semiconductor market is on track for 20 percent growth in 2010, according to the Linley Group's most recent report "Communications Semiconductor Market Forecast 2009-2014."

"As data centers continue their transition to new networking technologies, such as 10 Gigabit and faster Ethernet, we anticipate a strong recovery this year and potential for modest growth in 2011 and thereafter," said Joseph Byrne, senior analyst at The Linley Group.

"We also see emerging economies, such as India, contributing significantly to growth in overall networking IC sales. Although visibility remains limited because of volatile economic conditions, we expect that the communications semiconductor market will continue to expand through 2014."

Report highlights include:

* Ethernet ICs will be the fastest growing category in 2010, with Ethernet ASSP revenue projected to rise by nearly 40 percent this year.

* For the five-year period from 2009-2014, multicore processor sales are expected to accelerate and should grow at a CAGR of 28 percent.

* Network processors remain one of the fastest growing categories, with a projected CAGR of 11 percent.

* Carrier investment to support new technologies like IPTV and 4G cellular could accelerate growth in the coming years in areas such as PON, home networking, FPGAs, and embedded processors.

* Deployment of massive data centers to support initiatives such as cloud computing may accelerate adoption of 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet.