There’s a very good reason why chip firms are important financial bellwethers in the tech industry: the world runs on chips. They are found in everything from a phone to a car. So if they are selling well, that means other goods are selling. The chip sector was among the hardest hit in the 2008 downturn, but also one of the first to recover. Now, HardwareCentral notes, after a rollercoaster ride in 2009, the chip business is returning to normal, steady growth with fewer gyrations.
The semiconductor market has begun to stabilize — following the precipitous drops of late 2008 and early 2009 and the roaring comeback that began in late 2009.
That’s according to market researcher IDC. Worldwide semiconductor revenues dropped significantly in the first half of 2009 but began a recovery in the third quarter and “very exuberant rates in the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010,” as IDC put it.
