The IC industry in 2007 was not a mess. According to a survey by KPMG, an accounting firm, executives of semiconductor manufacturers hold a positive view of the near future prospects of the global IC industry, and it is expected that the sales growth rate will exceed 10% this year. According to this survey, 96% of respondents said that they not only do business in China, but most executives also regard China as the number one region to drive sales growth in the next three years, followed by Taiwan, other parts of Asia and the United States.

 

 

 

Enterprise executives interviewed in the autumn of 2006 believed that mobile phones and computing products were the most important market applications at present, with the importance of 26% and 24% respectively. However, in the recent survey, the respondents predicted that the importance of consumer products would increase by nearly 50% within three years, becoming the most important source of sales revenue in the industry, including MP3 players, digital cameras, televisions, global positioning systems and other automotive equipment. The importance of mobile phones will drop to the second place, while the importance of computing applications will drop by 36% in three years.

 

 

 

Gary Matuszak, the head of global information, communication and entertainment (ICE) business of KPMG, said: "As a key application area, the importance of consumer products is obviously rising. This completely deviates from the traditional IC consumption mode, that is, computer, computer peripherals and communication equipment OEMs are key consumers of IC. This change in IC consumption mode is one of the factors that stimulate investment growth in Asia."

 

 

 

KPMG's survey was conducted jointly with the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) of the United States. It interviewed 300 senior executives of semiconductor enterprises in the United States, Europe and Asia, who came from 100 device manufacturers, contract manufacturers and non factory manufacturers.