Positive and negative, memory sales continue to strongly impact total IC market.
IC Insights recently updated its 2019-2023 semiconductor market forecasts in its March Update to the 500-page, 2019 edition of The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry.
In the March Update, IC Insights shows how the total memory market heavily influenced total IC market growth for the positive during the past two years but will likely have a very negative impact on total IC market growth in 2019.
The DRAM and NAND flash markets continue to closely follow the original IC industry cycle model whereby the market cycles are primarily driven by fluctuations in capital spending and capacity. Including IC Insights’ forecast for 2019, it appears that little has changed regarding the extremely volatile nature of DRAM market cycles (Figure 1).
Figure 1
