According to research of the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) conducted as part of the ITIS project, the worldwide semiconductor market has gradually become mature since 2000, and growth momentum has become weaker. Furthermore, due to the impact of the global financial crisis, worldwide IC production capacity utilization rates in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell below 70%, and overall production capacity growth came to a halt. Production cuts of DRAM manufacturers even caused declines.

The Taiwanese semiconductor industry has also been affected by global developments and has experienced slow growth momentum. It is expected that the Taiwanese industry will rebound starting in 2010. However, growth momentum of downstream 3C industries and the worldwide semiconductor market is slowing down. If there will be no relevant policies to stimulate development, it is expected that in the long-term future development of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry will gradually slow down.

Due to the effects of the global financial crisis, 60% of the world's top 25 IC suppliers experienced revenue declines in 2008, and the market has seen consolidation. Among the companies that maintained growth, almost half were IC design companies, with companies in the communications field having a relatively good performance. Wireless communications IC companies even experienced double-digit growth rates.

According to MIC Senior Industry Analyst Chris Hung, "with the development trend of product function integration, in particular communications and multimedia products, IC companies have to possess even more diverse communications and peripheral integration capabilities. The global semiconductor industry will experience consolidation among companies, and Taiwanese small- and medium-sized semiconductor companies will face even more competitive pressure in the future. With the development of new emerging peripheral applications, in the future development of semiconductor manufacturing technologies emerging areas such as MEMS, high-voltage processes, and next-generation memory will be closely watched."

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english

About ITIS

The Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) project is managed by the Department of Industrial Technology of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs. As part of the project, research is conducted in a variety of fields, including the ICT sector. The project serves both the public and private sector.