Dataquest predicts that the worldwide semiconductor sales will grow 13% to $153.3bn this year, after last year’s depressed $136.2bn global market. The research firm, a unit of the Gartner Group, is even predicting that DRAM sales will rise again this year, despite the fact that memory prices hit an all-time low last week (CI No 3,666). The analyst and research community has predicted an upturn in semiconductor market since the last quarter of 1998. Chip manufacturers, especially memory makers, ride the wave of analyst expectation and ramp up production of chips, saturating the market and bringing chip values down.
