Chip Sales Up 31% In 2000, But Slowing In 2001, 2002

SAN JOSE, CA-The worldwide semiconductor market reached $222.1 billion in 2000, a 31% increase over 1999 revenue, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group Inc. The increase comes despite a “slight” slowdown at the end of the year that is expected to slow revenue growth to 27% in 2001 and 14% in 2002, according to Dataquest.

“We are now at the end of the second year of an up cycle and there is despondency regarding the future, as the fourth quarter of 2000 was weak relative to the preceding quarter,” stated Joe D’Elia, vice president and director of Gartner Dataquest’s European semiconductor research, in announcing the report. “Historically, the industry has gone through inventory corrections during the positive portion of the industry cycle, and we see no reason to believe that this current weakening is anything else other than an inventory correction.”