- 24th October 2006-

iSuppli stays confident for 2006 chip forecast

Market forecasters iSuppli have reaffirmed their forecast for this year’s chip sales. They err on the side of caution with only a slight reduction in their outlook.
iSuppli predicts global semiconductor sales will rise to $255.7 bn in 2006, up 7.8% from $237.2 bn in 2005. The previous forecast, issued in June, predicted global semiconductor sales would grow by 7.9% in 2006.
"The PC and mobile-phone markets, the major drivers of semiconductor sales during the past two years, have remained healthy in 2006," said Gary Grandbois, principal analyst with iSuppli.
Although mobile-phone Average Selling Prices (ASPs) are falling rapidly, strong unit demand has prompted iSuppli to raise its 2006 wireless communications growth forecast from 4.6% previously.
"Regardless of these alterations to the forecast, both the PC and mobile-phone areas are maintaining their momentum in 2006, keeping semiconductor shipments at a higher level than they were during the second half of 2005," he added. "Semiconductor revenue in the second half of 2006 is expected to be 6.4% higher than during the same period in 2005."
Due to the wide variety of new mobile phone models with multimedia capabilities vying to attract the interest of consumers, iSuppli Corp. also recently forecasted mobile handset displays will reach 1.2 bn unit shipments in 2006, up 17% from 1.05 bn in 2005.
The convergence of voice, data, multimedia and personal-information-management capabilities is expanding in mobile phones and the handset industry is readying itself to offer products with these visually intensive features. This, in turn, is driving the demand for advanced mobile displays from OEMs that want to offer these capabilities.
Because of this, iSuppli forecasts that mobile-display shipments will continue to grow in 2007, with 1.3 bn shipped, up 4% from the 1.2 bn mobile displays shipped this year as replacement unit sales and new subscriber growth remain relatively steady compared to 2006.
While TFT-LCDs will thrive in the mobile handset display market in the coming years, overall mobile OLED panel shipments will slowly climb to reach 47 m units shipped in 2006, up from 32 m units in 2005. The largest growth area for mobile-phone OLEDs will be in the main display market, where iSuppli forecasts shipments will grow to 160 m units by 2012, up from a mere 13.7 m units in 2006.
Web: www.isuppli.com