While there are lingering concerns about the effects of high energy prices and the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the US, end markets for semiconductors continue to be very strong.
A number of growth trends in the Asia Pacific market are positive due to continued outsourcing to contract manufacturers located in the region.
Korea is a significant market for American semiconductor producers -- in 2005, the Korean semiconductor market was approximately $4.5 billion.
The worldwide market for semiconductors in 2001 is expected to decline 31 percent due to excessive inventories and price pressure on a wide range of products, ... However, recent data indicates inventory is now largely in balance and prices are rebounding in some product categories.
While information technology products will continue to be the largest market sectors for semiconductors, consumer products will be the major growth-drivers in the years ahead,
The financial turbulence of Asia and other market changes have crimped the expected expansion of global chip markets in early 1998,
U.S. semiconductor companies have over 70 percent of their manufacturing capacity in the United States, while less than a third of our markets are here.
This region represented 46.6% of the global market for microchips at year end. The largest share of the market is in China, which has become the world's leading manufacturer of electronics products.
The outlook for the semiconductor industry remains robust. For the first quarter of 2006, we expect sequential change in the total market will be in the range of plus or minus 1%.