Semiconductor industry set for highest annual growth in a decade?

iSuppli suggests that growth in chip sales this year will be driven by fundamental supply/factors that have been gaining momentum during the past 12 months. Dale Ford, iSuppli's senior vice president, market intelligence services, said: "Chip sales growth this year will be fueled by a number of key factors, including continued strong consumer demand for hot electronic products, diligent inventory and capacity management efforts among chip makers and the arrival of innovative technologies at both the component and end-system levels." This year, says Ford, will mark an all time annual high for global semiconductor revenue, eclipsing the previous record of $274bn set in 2007 by about 9%. Ford noted that 2010 is bringing a return to normal semiconductor market conditions after the unusual industry performance in 2009, when chip sales plunged due to external economic conditions. "While the growth in 2010 is impressive, it still needs to be viewed in context of the dismal results in 2009," Ford added. "Compared to 2008, the semiconductor industry in 2010 will achieve more moderate revenue growth of 15.4%." According to iSuppli, dramatic growth in dram revenues will be a major driver of growth in the overall semiconductor market, with the analyst projecting growth in 2010 to reach nearly 77%.