FRANKFURT -- The German semiconductor market will drop 4.4% to 11.4 billion euros this year, according to a new ZVEI forecast.

Stephan zur Verth, chairman of the semiconductors department at ZVEI, says the market will rebound next year, but not to 2015 levels.

"With an almost equally large decline in dollar terms from 4%, the German semiconductor market in the current year is expected to fall more sharply than the world's stagnant semiconductor market," zur Verth said. The analyst expects domestic growth of 3%, to almost 12 billion euros ($12.7 billion) in 2017.

In the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region, semiconductor sales will fall 5% to just over $32.5 billion, he said. In 2017, the semiconductor market will grow by 3% to $33.5 billion, zur Verth added.

ZVEI data suggest the world semiconductor market in the current year will be flat at almost $335 billion. For 2017, zur Verth expects sales to increase 3.3% to just under $346 billion. Since 2010, the average annual growth of the worldwide market has been 2%.

"The semiconductor market has now developed into a so-called 'mature market'. Its growth rates are substantially dependent on new applications and of the economic development," explained zur Verth." 

Sensors and actuators worldwide will grow over 20% this year, making it the fastest-growing segment of the semi industry.

Geographically, Asia/Pacific is the largest region, at 60%, with China accounting for half (32 percentage points) of the market. The second-largest region is North and South America at 19% Japan and EMEA represent a 10% share, the smallest sales regions of the semiconductor market.

• Prev
• Next