Semiconductor Industry on Full Blast: Record-Breaking Revenues for 2011

2011 was a hard year for the semiconductor industry, but despite all this, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has good news: Global sales in 2011 for semiconductors pounded the old 2010 record of $298.3 billion by 0.4 percent, reaching a figure of $299.5 billion. Still, towards the end of the year, the industry was in trouble, with sales dropping by 5.5 percent in December compared to figures from November, totaling $23.8 billion in sales. Q4 2011 wasn't so bright itself, with a 7.7 percent drop from the figures in Q3, and a 5.3 percent drop from Q4 2010. The Q4 figures were at $71.5 billion, for those who are curious.

Brian Toohey, president of SIA, says that, “between the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and the overall impact of a weak global economy, 2011 presented a number of major challenges for the semiconductor industry. Despite these setbacks the industry showed resiliency and posted year on year growth with record-breaking revenues for 2011. The health of the industry is a direct reflection of the pervasiveness of semiconductor innovations and their applications in almost every aspect of modern society.”

The industry flew because of high demand for certain components in many popular electronics. Most importantly, optoelectronics demand grew significantly throughout the last year. Optoelectronics are used in applications like DVD players and Blu-Ray drives. Lamps and image sensors helped the optoelectronic demand bump up significantly to $23.1 billion, an increase of 6.4 percent above sales projected throughout 2010. The optoelectronic market has helped manufacturers make products that are more efficient with their use of power and have a smaller price tag (News - Alert) because of cheaper components. Products benefitting from optoelectronics include digital cameras, smartphones, and many tablets.

Even the smallest market for semiconductors - the sensor/actuator market - grew significantly, hitting a 15.5 percent year-to-year increase to $8.0 billion in sales for 2011. Sensors are often used in electronics that measure things such as temperature in vehicles and many consumer electronics. So, what’s going to happen to the semiconductor industry in 2012?

According to the SIA, the semiconductor industry will experience even more growth throughout this year because of an ever-growing demand for high-end electronics and a trickle of sales from supply chains that has yet to be processed from the last half of 2011. Larger semiconductor manufacturers have bigger plans for this year, building newer plants that will give high-tech industry a significant boost.