Future Horizons sours on chip market outlook

Future Horizons has lowered its forecast for the global semiconductor market from 16 to 4.9 percent, the market researcher announced during a webinar last week (via EE News). Founder and chief analyst Malcolm Penn noted that industry growth is being driven by increased average sales prices (ASP) rather than rising unit shipments. “An ASP-led recovery is unusual. In fact, it’s never happened before in 50 years,” Penn said. Until unit shipments start to grow, he’s unwilling to sound the starting gun for the recovery.