Group notes key markets to revive IC industry

The firm predicts that the solar panel market will reach only 7.1GW next year, translating to a global growth rate of 26 percent, down from a 48 percent growth in 2008. "Panel prices will likely fall between 20-to-30 percent in 2009 as global supply of polysilicon doubles," The Information Network said.

The HDD market is also expected to will grow 12.5 percent in 2008 to 567 million units. The firm projects the shipments to reach 618 million units in 2009, a growth of 9 percent. The report added market competition coming from solid-state drives such as flash for small form factor products such as iPods and at the enterprise level for 2.5-inch drives. Also, the group sees pilot lines for Discrete Track Recording technology in 2009.

"Nanomaterials consumption for electronics applications will grow 40 percent in 2009. Nanomaterials utilization in semiconductor applications will have a 62.6 percent share of the $800 million market in 2009, primarily because of utilization of designer molecules for DUV photoresists and for slurries for chemical mechanical planarization," according to the research firm.

Meanwhile demand for large-sized LCDs in 2008 will be 423 million panels up 16 percent from 2007. The firm forecasts that the market will grow another 15 percent in 2009. LCDs for notebooks will also hit 199 million units while LCDs for TVs will reach 114 million units,

The Information Network, however, noted that growth is not across all sectors. The firm forecasts that $1.4 billion automobile market will be flat in 2008 and down about 10 percent in 2009. It added that the consumer sector is another area impacted by the recession and downturn in consumer confidence. "The sector will grow only 5 percent in 2008 to $3.3 billion and another 9 percent in 2009," the firm said.

- Mark LaPedus
EE Times