Global semiconductor sales to reach $311 bn in 2013: Gartner

Global semiconductor revenues are projected to total $311 billion in 2013, up 4.5 per cent from 2012.

In a new survey, tecnology market research firm Gartner said the fourth quarter projections have been revised down, due to the economic headwinds and an inventory correction, from the previous quarter's forecast of $330 billion.

Gartner analysts have also reduced growth predictions for 2012 with semiconductor revenue expected to total $298 billion, down 3 per cent from 2011. Gartner's third quarter forecast had put revenue at $309 billion for 2012, an increase of 0.6 per cent from 2011, it said.

"The looming fiscal cliff, ongoing European debt crisis, slower emerging market growth and regional tensions have all played a part in reduced growth projections for semiconductor revenue in both 2012 and 2013. Inventory levels were already high at the start of the second half of 2012, and as personal computer demand rolled off, supply simply overshot demand,'' said Peter Middleton, principal analyst at Gartner.

The semiconductor market was further depressed with the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) - a type of random-access memory - prices failing to rebound in 2012.

Gartner predicts that the DRAM market will not recover until the second half of 2013, when lower supply growth is expected to pull the market into a period of under supply. This should prove a turning point for the semiconductor industry, memory is expected to lead the recovery with 15.3 per cent growth and total semiconductor revenue is projected to reach $342 billion in 2014, a 9.9 per cent rise from 2013.