The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said it expects 2004 chip sales to grow 28.6%, to $214 bil, topping the $204 bil the industry recorded at the height of the dot-com boom in 2000. But the agency also reiterated that chip sales are expected to grow only 4.2% in 2005 to $223 bil and actually decline by 0.8% in 2006 to $221 bil?the bottom of the next downturn.
Microprocessor sales are projected to grow by 17.7% to $32.3 bil in 2004 and to $37.0 bil in 2007, a compound annualized growth rate of 7.8%. But the strongest growth is expected in the DRAM and flash-memory industries, which the SIA said would grow by 55.8% and 48.9%, respectively, in 2004. Total DRAM sales for the year should reach $26.0 bil, it said, while 2004 flash memory sales should reach $17.5 bil.