Future Horizons maintains bearish outlook for IC market

Analyst Malcolm Penn has reiterated his forecast of a 20-ish percent semiconductor market decline this year. The founder and CEO of Future Horizons predicted the current downturn as early as January last year and issued an outlook of -22 percent in May 2022. He now forecasts a contraction of 18-22 percent, casting aside more optimistic scenarios because of the significant inventory levels the industry still needs to burn through. That will take until Q4 and could be longer if demand softens. Fellow soothsayer Gartner recently lowered its outlook to an 11.2 percent decline.