Global semiconductor revenue down $26.8billion in 2009

Gartner said that this is the first time the industry has seen two consecutive years of revenue declines. However, the industry performed much better than expected in the second half, setting the stage for strong 2010 growth against weak comparables. Peter Middleton, principal research analyst at Gartner, said: "After an unprecedented decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, sequential quarterly revenue growth for the industry overall was very strong in the last three quarters of 2009. As a result, 2009 performance overall was much milder than initially feared in the aftermath of the financial crisis." Gartner's annual semiconductor market share analysis examines and ranks the worldwide and regional revenue for around 270 semiconductor suppliers in 64 separate product categories and eight major market categories. Intel held the No. 1 position for the 18th consecutive year. It increased its market share to 14.6% percent in 2009 from 13.6% despite its revenue declining $1.6bn. According to Gartner, this performance was primarily due to the relative strength of the pc market, mobiles in particular, which sold well despite the recession.