Flash memory sales will help drive the recovery in the chip industry according to the annual forecast from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Flash will be the fastest growing memory product line in 1999, according the SIA, which has predicted growth rates for the industry as whole running at over 20% through to 2002.
Microprocessors should grow 11% to $28bn in 1999, 17% to $32bn in 2000, 14% to $40bn in 2001. In 2002, the microprocessor market is expected to increase by 13% to $42bn. DRAM memory chips are expected to increase 31% to $18bn in 1999, 39% and $25bn in 2000, and will grow by 44% in 2001 to $37bn and then grow 5% to $38bn in 2002.
Flash should show a 63% growth to $4.1bn in 1999, 36% to $5.5bn in 2000, 19% to $6.6bn in 2001 and then slow down to 1% to $6.7bn in 2002. The massive increase in sales in 1999 reflects the vast numbers of phones and other mobile devices being produced and sold. The slow decline in sales after probably reflects the fact that next generation memory chips such as ferroelectric RAM, better static RAM types and embedded DRAM will come on the market to supersede Flash over the next five years.
