12 October 2012

Q2 results indicate slowing microelectronics revenue growth for 2012

Despite slowing revenue growth in 2012 in the microelectronics portion of the industry (based on the first-half 2012 results for many of the large manufacturers), product development activity is progressing strongly, notes The Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs) viewpoint ‘Compound Semiconductor Industry Review April - June 2012: Microelectronics’. In advance of June’s 2012 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Montreal, Canada, the heavyweights of the compound semiconductor industry all announced new product developments.

The report from market research firm Strategy Analytics summarizes technology, product, contract, financial and employment announcements in April–June 2012 from firms such as Anadigcs, Hittite Microwave, TriQuint Semiconductor, Agilent, RFMD, Skyworks, WIN Semiconductors, Mitsubishi, Cree, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Sumitomo Electric, addressing commercial and military applications that use gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SiC), silicon germanium (SiGe) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) silicon technologies.  

“With a few exceptions, the revenue results for microelectronic companies have been mixed in the first half of 2012, with almost as many companies reporting declines as are reporting revenue growth,” notes Eric Higham, director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs). “Barring anything unforeseen happening in the second half of the year, it appears the growth rate for the industry will finish below its historical average,” he adds. 

“Despite slowing revenue growth, there is no shortage of product development, with GaN, higher frequency and integrated device activities driving many of the product announcements,” comments Asif Anwar, director of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice (STP). 

Tags: Strategy Analytics

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