Worldwide semiconductor sales will likely climb 11.5% this year to $377.8 billion, a second straight annual record, according to industry projections released Tuesday.

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics forecast is 9.2% higher than the $346.1 billion projection released in November 2016, reflecting accelerating demand growth accompanying improvement in global economic conditions since the second half of 2016.

By product type, memory chips are projected to grow at the fastest pace, with sales seen jumping 30.4% to $100.1 billion. Demand for NAND flash memory used in data center storage devices is climbing, and the chips are increasingly being used in smartphones. In addition, many users are switching to solid-state drives from hard-disk drives.

Sensor sales are projected to rise 13.9% to $12.3 billion. Driven by the "internet of things," demand for pressure sensors and acceleration sensors in industrial equipment is expanding.

WSTS projects that 2018 sales will rise 2.7% year over year to $387.9 billion, but 2019 sales will dip 0.2% to $387.1 billion. Although shipments of sensors and logic semiconductors are expected to continue growing, semiconductor memory shipments are seen dropping slightly.

U.S.-based WSTS is an industry trade group in which 44 semiconductor manufacturers worldwide participate.

By: DocMemory
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