We’re delighted to share this month’s govt abstract from Future Horizons’ February report on the semiconductor market, which incorporates the newest trade insights and projections.

Govt Abstract

Annualised development charges fell again in December, with Complete Semiconductors rising 14.5 p.c, down from 22.2 p.c in November, led by Complete Reminiscence, at 37.7 p.c, a pointy discount from November’s 87.2 p.c quantity.

Logic development was flat, at 19.4 p.c, with Analog ICs at 2.5 p.c, a a lot welcomed, if small, enchancment on November’s 0.6 p.c quantity.

Complete Micro carried out worse, chalking up a 1.6 p.c decline vs. final month’s 1.0 p.c lacklustre development, bringing Complete IC development to 18.6 p.c, or 10.7 p.c excluding Reminiscence, down from final month’s 22.2 p.c and 11.2 p.c respective outcomes.

The month-to-month year-on-year annualised development charges, which peaked in 28.0 p.c in August 2024, have been falling now for 4 months in a row, Determine E1(a). We don’t count on this development to reverse anytime quickly.

Following the euphoria of 2024’s AI-Hyperscale development, the true market actuality is now coming to the fore. Fairly the place the typical 2025 development charge finally ends up can be decided by how briskly and by how a lot the following month-to-month annualised development charges will fall.

As could be seen from the 2021 to 2023 transition path, accurately guessing this quantity proper is extra fortunate than good judgement.

Complete month-on-month Semiconductor gross sales have been 9.3 p.c decrease than November 2024, reversing November’s 10.3 p.c development. This decline was broadly unfold throughout all IC sectors, in addition to Complete Opto, with Complete Discretes the one product development space, at 3.9 p.c.

With development wholly depending on one market, particularly AI infrastructure, even a minor misstep right here would have dramatic ramifications for the general chip trade.  Proper now, nonetheless, the AI frenzy reveals no indicators but of abating, with the 4 large tech corporations, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta all doubling down on their infrastructure investments.

This unbridled enthusiasm is, nonetheless, beginning to see some pockets of scepticism and investor concern, as shareholders fear that doubling down on spending, with no commensurate enhance in revenues, would starve non-AI enterprise strains and eat into capital that will in any other case be returned to them as share buybacks and dividends.

Few individuals doubt AI is doubtlessly game-changing however, accurately in our view, provided that AI addresses a transparent downside that wants a 10x benefit; has clear information to course of; and general compute prices decline dramatically.

Offering ChatGPT or GenAI options to engines like google or MS Workplace solely provides incremental worth, it’s neither disruptive nor recreation altering. As such, it affords little potential, if any, for elevated income technology. It merely gives extra bang for a similar buck, one of many key elementary hypotheses that has pushed the trade since time immemorial.

If investor persistence runs out, any pause or slowdown within the present AI infrastructure spend would set off a right away and dire bullwhip oversupply state of affairs. From in the present day’s undersupply backdrop, be it nVIDIA GPUs, SK-Hynix’s HBW reminiscences, or TSMC’s CoWoS packaging, lengthy backlogs and supply occasions can be reined again dramatically, there may be by no means a pleasant clean inflection and no superior warning.

Given the general weak world financial outlook, the elevated political uncertainties, and the chance of an AI information centre funding slowdown, following two years of hypergrowth, we don’t count on to see the true semiconductor rebound earlier than the second half of 2025 on the earliest.

General, we stay dedicated in our view that the extra regular features of the market, now of their ninth quarter of recession, have but to get better.

If the AI market implodes, even a restoration right here wouldn’t be sufficient to avoid wasting the chip market.

There’s now an actual hazard 2025’s development will go damaging.

Learn The Full Report Right here: https://www.futurehorizons.com/page/137/