The revenue of the global semiconductor market is forecast to expand 7.5% to $451-billion in 2018, surpassing technology research firm Gartner’s earlier growth forecast for the year of only 4%.
This can be attributed to continued favourable market conditions for memory sectors, which account for $19.5-billion of the $23.6-billion increase in the outlook for the year ahead, providing a significant boost to semiconductor revenue.
“Price increases for both Dram and Nand flash memory are raising the outlook for the overall semiconductor market,” said Gartner principal research analyst Ben Lee in a release published on Monday.
He warned, however, that the price increases would pressurise the margins for system vendors of key semiconductor demand drivers, including smartphones, personal computers and servers.
“Gartner predicts that component shortages, a rising bill of materials and the resulting prospect of having to raise average selling prices will create a volatile market through 2018,” said Lee.
Excluding the memory sectors, the semiconductor market is forecast to grow by 4.6% in 2018, compared with the growth of 9.4% reported in 2017.