Semiconductor revenue declines in Q4 2010 for first time in nearly two years

EL SEGUNDO, USA: After six consecutive quarters of sequential growth for the world’s semiconductor suppliers, the fourth quarter of 2010 saw revenue contract by 3.7 percent over the previous period—the first quarterly retreat since the beginning of 2009—according to new research from IHS iSuppli.

Revenues for the 298 semiconductor suppliers tracked by the IHS iSuppli Competitive Landscaping Tool (CLT) fell to $77.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, down from $80.1 billion in the earlier quarter. Just the same, the depressed revenue still was 11.9 percent higher than the $69.0 billion posted than the fourth quarter of 2009, as shown in the figure.Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.

“The last time a sequential decline happened in the semiconductor industry was during the recent global economic downturn,” said Dale Ford of IHS. “Following steep declines of 21.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 18.0 percent in the first quarter of 2009, semiconductor revenues began to increase in the second quarter of 2009 and then rose every quarter until the fourth quarter of 2010.”

New record is reached
Despite the fourth-quarter contraction, semiconductor revenues surged by $74.5 billion in 2010, setting a new record and surpassing the prior record increase of $59.2 billion during the dot-com bubble of 2000. The record for highest annual percentage growth in the industry remains the 36.7 percent increase seen in the year 2000.

Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.