Is a 2.2% drop in semiconductor sales revenue really ‘terrible’?
The semiconductor industry has shown remarkably consistent growth over the last 50 years. Plot a graph of sales revenue against time and the slope shows an increase in sales of around 15% a year.
However, growth has slowed considerably in the last few years. There's a number of reasons, one of which is the global economy. But underlying this is the fact that the semiconductor industry is mature; you simply can't expect it to continue to grow at historical rates.
Global semiconductor revenues in 2012 - still in excess of $300billion a year - declined by 2.2% compared to 2011. While a couple of larger organisations saw their sales decline by more than 10%, it's hard to agree with one analyst's view that 2012 was as 'a terrible year' for the semiconductor industry.
