IC Insights boosts 2010 chip growth forecast to 27%

IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.) said it expects semiconductor revenue to increase another 15 percent in 2011, reaching $290 billion.

Worldwide chip revenue of $253 billion would be the most ever in a single year, eclipsing the previous high-water markof $234 billion, set in 2007, according to IC Insights.

IC Insights had previously predicted that chip revenue would increase 15 percent in 2010. Sales of semiconductors declined about 9 percent in 2009, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

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The projected 2010 growth is being driven largely by DRAM memory. Thanks to strong increases in average selling prices, IC Insights projects that DRAM revenue will soar 74 percent this year, following a disastrous 2009, the firm said.

Last week, market research firm iSuppli Corp. forecast that chip revenue would increase 21.5 percent in 2010. The firm argued that the IC recovery will be modest " when viewed from a longer-term perspective," noting that even greater than 20 percent growth will leave the industry only a few percentage points above where it stood in 2007 and 2008.