Chip sales are set to cool more than previously expected as the global economy struggles under the weight of rapid interest rate increases and rising geopolitical risks, fueling fears of a recession.
World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), a non-profit body that tracks shipments, lowered its market outlook to 13.9 percent growth this year from 16.3 percent. For next year, it sees chip sales rising just 4.6 percent, the weakest pace since 2019.
The market is still expected to surpass US$600 billion this year, WSTS forecast. Next year’s forecast growth would be the weakest since a 12 percent drop in sales at the height of the US-China trade dispute.
Photo: Reuters
Chip sales are an important indicator of global economic activity as households and firms increasingly rely on digital devices and online services to consume and expand.
US President Joe Biden this month signed the so-called CHIPS and Science Act aimed at strengthening the US semiconductor industry as China races to expand its own chipmaking capacity.
Japan is likely to see the strongest sales growth at 5 percent next year, followed by the Americas at 4.8 percent and the Asia-Pacific region at 4.7 percent, WSTS said. Europe, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is reverberating across the continent’s economy, is likely to post an expansion of just 3.2 percent.
Based in Morgan Hill, California, WSTS includes among its members Texas Instruments Inc, Samsung Electronics Co, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp and Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology Co (揚州揚傑電子科技), according to its Web site.
Separately, US-based market information advisory firm IC Insights yesterday said it has adjusted its global semiconductor capital expenditure forecast this year to grow 21 percent year-on-year to US$185.5 billion, compared with the previous estimate of a 24 percent increase to US$190.4 billion it made at the beginning of the year.
The downward adjustment came as the semiconductor industry faces soaring inflation and a rapidly decelerating worldwide economy, causing many semiconductor manufacturers to re-evaluate their aggressive expansion plans, IC Insights said in a press release.
“Several (but not all) suppliers — particularly many leading DRAM and flash memory manufacturers — have already announced reductions in their capex [capital expenditure] budgets for this year,” it said. “Many more suppliers have noted that capital spending cuts are expected in 2023 as the industry digests three years of robust spending and evaluates capacity needs in the face of slowing economic growth.”
Despite the downward adjustment, the revised capital expenditure forecast for this year still represents a new record high and would mark the first three-year period of double-digit gains in the semiconductor industry since 1993 to 1995, IC Insights said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-hui
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Taiwan is attracting a growing number of foreign jobseekers as companies increasingly recruit overseas talent to ease labor shortages and expand global reach, recruitment platform 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said yesterday. More than 40,000 foreign nationals searched for jobs in Taiwan through the platform last year, a 28 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said. Malaysians accounted for the largest share of overseas jobseekers at 12.2 percent, followed by Indonesians at 11.9 percent and Vietnamese at 10.8 percent. Indonesian applicants surged more than 50 percent year-on-year, while Vietnamese jobseekers rose by more than 30 percent. Applicants from the
RSS