WSTS halves growth prediction for memory chip market next year

A semiconductor industry tracker on Wednesday cut in half its growth projection of the global memory chip market next year.

World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), a nonprofit organization of chipmakers, forecast the memory market to expand 8.5 percent year-on-year to $171.6 billion next year, down from a growth rate of 18.4 percent with $190.7 billion it forecast in its August report.

While the agency did not elaborate, falling DRAM prices and an expected slowdown in memory demand are believed to have contributed to the revision.

It also predicted the overall semiconductor market to grow by 8.8 percent next year, "driven by double-digit growth of the sensors and logic category." It had previously said the market would grow by 10.1 percent.

Among the chip types, sensors are expected to grow by 11.3 percent, followed by logic chips at 11.1 percent, analog chips at 8.8 percent and memory chips at 8.5 percent.

For this year, the semiconductor market was not "negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic," WSTS said, adding robust consumer demand pushed most of the major product categories to double-digit growth rates.

Memory chips were the largest growth contributor with 34.6 percent, followed by analog with 30.9 percent and logic with 27.3 percent.

Founded in 1986, WSTS releases monthly industry shipment statistics and has more than 40 member companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the world's two biggest memory chip makers with a combined market share of more than 70 percent. (Yonhap)