Demand for semiconductors and the equipment used in their production has been sky high in recent years, an up-and-up trend industry forecasters expect to continue for the foreseeable future. At the same time, signs of a cyclical downturn are becoming more and more apparent across the industry.
Lee Pei-Ing, president of Nanya Technology, Taiwan’s largest DRAM memory chip maker, recently told media that semiconductor sales are likely to decline in the second half of 2022 as inflation causes consumers and corporations to reduce spending on smartphones, personal computers (PCs), servers and cloud computing and data center services.
Lee’s comments contrast with those of many other industry sources who, even if they have doubts about the sustainability of overall semiconductor market growth, have generally been confident that 5G and data center-related demand would continue to expand.