Essential Guide to Semiconductors, The

Worldwide Production of Semiconductors

Excepting the annus horribilis of 2001, the worldwide market for semiconductors recently passed $200 billion per year. That's about the same as the national output of Saudi Arabia or Switzerland. Figure 5.1 shows month-by-month sales of semiconductors for 312 consecutive months (26 years), from the beginning of 1976 through the end of 2001. Note that these are monthly, not yearly, figures, so sales have been in the range of $10 billion to $15 billion per month—or $400 million per day—for several years.

Figure 5.1. Monthly sales of semiconductors worldwide (in thousands). Courtesy of World Semiconductor Trade Statistics. Used with permission.

Figure 5.2 shows the same data graphed yearly, so the vertical ...