San Jose - Global microchip sales are expected to leap by 9.4 per cent for the current year and reach double-digit growth for the following two years, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said Thursday in its annual forecast.
Sales are expected to reach 248.8 billion dollars this year, and push through to 321 billion dollars by 2009, after anticipated growth of 10 per cent in 2007 and 10.8 per cent for 2008, the group said.
Total worldwide microchip sales in 2005 were 227.5 billion dollars, the group said in a statement.
"Consumer purchases of a broad range of electronic products continue to grow as the leading driver of demand for semiconductors," said SIA President George Scalise.
Consumer electronics products such as digital cameras, digital televisions, and MP3 player players now account for nearly 20 per cent of all semiconductor consumption, and cell phones drive another 20 per cent of use, he said.
Cell phones alone are the second largest consumer of semiconductors after personal computers, the group said. Call phone sales are expected to reach 1 billion units annually this year, a 20 per cent increase over last year.