Recovery to start in Q3 2009?

Although demand in most sectors of the electronics equipment market is still declining, analysts at Gartner Dataquest believe the industry will start to recover towards the end of 2009. With almost all sectors of the electronic equipment market still declining, Klaus Rinnen and Jim Tully, pictured, believe pc related production has now bottomed out and this is providing the 'first signs of hope' for the electronics supply chain. But the two analysts say semiconductor sales revenues are not expected to reach their 2007 levels within the next five years. Predicting most industry sectors will not bottom until the third quarter of 2009, Rinnen and Tully note that 'an improving global economic environment should enable the electronics industry to enter into a sustainable recovery in the second half of 2010, allowing a reacceleration in sales in 2011'. With an extended recovery period in prospect, Gartner says the industry must consider and prepare itself for 'significant changes' in consumer buying behaviour, technology demand patterns and a changed supplier landscape. Within that context, Rinnen and Tully believe several suppliers will not survive.