Latest news with #WSTS
New Straits Times
15-06-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Muted outlook for Malaysia's semiconductor sector amid low factory utilisation
KUALA LUMPUR: The near-term outlook for Malaysia's semiconductor sector remains lacklustre, weighed down by weak end-market demand and poor factory utilisation rates, according to MIDF Research. Following the recently concluded first quarter earnings season, the firm said most outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies under its coverage delivered disappointing financial performances. Maintaining its "neutral' stance on the technology sector, MIDF Research said the unfavourable utilisation rate led to the OSAT companies under its coverage posting appalling earnings performance. This, it said, has resulted in two downgrades in stock recommendations, namely D&O Green Technologies Bhd and Unisem (M) Bhd to "Trading Sell" and "Sell", respectively. Meanwhile, Inari Amertron Bhd has been upgraded to "Neutra" from "Trading Sell" previously, given the limited downside risk and relatively better earnings resiliency as compared to its peers. MIDF Research expects the earnings for the second quarter to remain relatively stagnant on a sequential basis, given the lack of positive development. "We foresee a more gradual pace of recovery in the second half of this year to make up for the lacklustre first half. "This is in tandem with the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) forecast for 2025, whereby not all segments are expected to show growth," the firm said. The WSTS has maintained its forecast of 11.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth for the global semiconductor market in 2025. For 2024, global semiconductor sales reached US$630 million, slightly above the WSTS forecast by 0.5 per cent. As a result, the 2025 market value is now expected to be US$700.9 million, up by 0.5 per cent. WSTS said growth will mainly be driven by the logic and memory segments, supported by demand for artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and advanced consumer electronics. MIDF Research said artificial intelligence (AI) remains the only clear catalyst at this juncture. Meanwhile, the firm continues to see challenges from the smartphone and automotive markets, which is expected to weigh on the performance of the local semiconductor companies. MIDF Research noted that the International Data Corporation (IDC) is now expecting the worldwide smartphone market to grow marginally this year by 0.6 per cent YoY to 1.24 billion units from 2.3 per cent previously in the February 2025 forecast. This is in view of high uncertainty, tariff volatility and microeconomic challenges such as inflation and unemployment across many regions leading to a slowdown in consumer spending. Moreover, IDC is expecting low single-digit growth until 2029 with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 1.4 per cent due to increasing smartphone penetration, lengthening refresh cycles and cannibalisation from used smartphones. The growth for 2025 will be primarily coming from China at 3.0 per cent YoY due to the subsidies. "We do not discount the possibility that the effect of the subsidies could be temporary, as we view that demand to be driven by innovation rather than the subsidies. This is also on top of the economic concerns," MIDF Research said. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to contract by 1.9 per cent YoY in 2025, which the firm said could hinge on the upcoming iPhone 17 launch. "Demand should disappoint if there are only minimal upgrades seen as compared to the iPhone 16 and/or there is a price increase across the various models," it added. Chin said additional cost pressures may also arise from the upcoming revision of electricity tariffs, scheduled for July, which could affect companies' medium- to long-term planning.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Semiconductor Revenues to Top $700 Billion Next Year
Following a robust 2024 rebound, the semiconductor market is set for another solid year. WSTS forecasts global chip sales to rise 11% in 2025 to about $700.9 billion. Logic and memory chipsthink AI accelerators, cloud servers and new gadgetsare the main drivers. Sensors and analog parts will grow too, just more modestly. What's fueling this? Companies can't get enough AI chips, and cloud spending remains high. Data centers need high-performance processors and DRAM, while device makers keep releasing smarter phones and PCs. Demand is running ahead of supply. Regionally, North America and Asia-Pacific lead with 18% and 9.8% growth. The U.S. and China are investing heavily in design and fabs. Europe and Japan grow more slowly, driven by EV upgrades and industrial IoT projects. Looking to 2026, WSTS sees another 8.5% increase to about $760.7 billion, thanks to 5G rollout, edge computing and new AI use cases. For chipmakers and ETFs like SMH, this suggests more margin and earnings upside. Watch CapEx plans from TSMC, Intel and Samsung to see if supply tightness eases or persists into next year. It's important to note that the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) had a rough start to 2025, falling nearly 25% by mid-April. But things turned around in May, with SMH rallying hard to cut its year-to-date loss to just -5.1% as of June 3. That said, it's still trailing behind the QQQ, which is up 5.2%, and the SPY, up 1.8%. The rebound suggests growing optimism around semiconductorslikely tied to AI momentum and improving earnings sentiment. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Semiconductor Revenues to Top $700 Billion Next Year
Following a robust 2024 rebound, the semiconductor market is set for another solid year. WSTS forecasts global chip sales to rise 11% in 2025 to about $700.9 billion. Logic and memory chipsthink AI accelerators, cloud servers and new gadgetsare the main drivers. Sensors and analog parts will grow too, just more modestly. What's fueling this? Companies can't get enough AI chips, and cloud spending remains high. Data centers need high-performance processors and DRAM, while device makers keep releasing smarter phones and PCs. Demand is running ahead of supply. Regionally, North America and Asia-Pacific lead with 18% and 9.8% growth. The U.S. and China are investing heavily in design and fabs. Europe and Japan grow more slowly, driven by EV upgrades and industrial IoT projects. Looking to 2026, WSTS sees another 8.5% increase to about $760.7 billion, thanks to 5G rollout, edge computing and new AI use cases. For chipmakers and ETFs like SMH, this suggests more margin and earnings upside. Watch CapEx plans from TSMC, Intel and Samsung to see if supply tightness eases or persists into next year. It's important to note that the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) had a rough start to 2025, falling nearly 25% by mid-April. But things turned around in May, with SMH rallying hard to cut its year-to-date loss to just -5.1% as of June 3. That said, it's still trailing behind the QQQ, which is up 5.2%, and the SPY, up 1.8%. The rebound suggests growing optimism around semiconductorslikely tied to AI momentum and improving earnings sentiment. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
India Gazette
07-05-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Global Semiconductor sales surge in Q1 (YoY), 2025 likely to see robust growth: Report
ANI 07 May 2025, 12:42 GMT+10 New Delhi [India] May 7 (ANI): The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported an 18.8 per cent increase in global semiconductor sales for the first quarter of 2025 as compared with the first quarter of 2024. As per the report, March 2025 sales hit a record USD 55.9 billion, up 1.8 per cent from February 2025.'Global semiconductor demand remains high, with first-quarter sales substantially outpacing the first quarter of last year,' said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO.'Year-to-year sales increased by more than 17 per cent for the 11th consecutive month, driven by a year-to-year sales increase of roughly 45 per cent in the Americas,' he added.Q1 2025 sales registered a slight decline of 2.8 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of on a year-on-year basis, March sales showed growth of 45.3 per cent in the Americas, followed by Asia Pacific/All Other (15.4 per cent), China (7.6 per cent), and Japan (5.8 per cent). On the other hand, Europe experienced a slight decline (-2.0 per cent). 'Monthly sales data is compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization,' SIA said in a press release. The SIA represents 99 per cent of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firmsHowever, WSTS sees continued expansion for the semiconductor market in 2025, with an 11.2 per cent rise, which will bring global market valuation to an estimated USD 697 billion.'The growth will be driven predominantly by the Logic and Memory sectors, which together are projected to exceed USD 400 billion in value. This includes a year-over-year growth of over 17 per cent for Logic and 13 per cent for Memory,' WSTS also forecasts that regions like the Americas and Asia Pacific are expected to maintain their double-digit growth on a year-over-year the national level, at the recently concluded WAVES 2025 Summit, the focus was brought to India's unique opportunity to leapfrog legacy broadcast infrastructure by embracing Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) technology from semiconductor chips to AI-powered Laptops. (ANI)
