China's Semi Markets Continue Strong Growth

Single-digit growth is expected in China's semiconductor sales revenues for 2008, according to a new study by market research specialist iSuppli. Although following years of double-digit growth, the reports numbers are still optimistic, especially for the nation's fabless semiconductor sector. Semiconductor sales revenue for China in 2008 is expected to rise only 6.7 percent to $81.7 billion, an increase from $76.6 billion in 2007. But the country's fabless integrated-circuit (IC) industry is expected to reach $3.5 billion in 2008, up from $3.1 billion in 2007, or a 12.3-percent increase.

As Vicent Gu, China Research Analyst for iSuppli, notes: "This growth in fabless IC revenue is being driven by domestic sales of wireless and consumer electronics products, rather than by exports. Moreover, the Summer Olympic events in Beijing and other Chinese cities this year encouraged the release of new mobile handsets supporting the 3G, Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB), and China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) standards, boosting sales of associated ICs." Although there is substantial economic uncertainty, continued revenue growth is anticipated in 2009.