OAK BROOK, IL - Semiconductor International hosted the 2008 Semiconductor Industry Forecast, featuring a panel of industry leaders sharing predictions for the New Year. The panel included Anne Craib of the SIA, Richard Gordon of Gartner Dataquest Research, Gary Grandbois of iSuppli, Jim Feldhan of Semico Research, Steve Szirom of InsideChips.com, Moshe Handelsman of Advanced Forecasting, Gary Smith of Gary Smith EDA, independent analyst Mike Cowan, and Carl Johnson of Infrastructure.

As reported by PCB Cafe, the panel discussed the demand for traditional consumer devices (such as MP3 players, digital TVs and cell phones) accounting for over 50% of semiconductor production, as well as PC unit demand, now almost 40% consumer-driven.  

The majority of the panelists predicted that the worldwide semiconductor would see growth in the 6-11% range, while three others predicted a year of flat or even negative growth, siting concerns about a possible recession in the US due to the higher oil prices and current mortgage crisis. These concerns have made analysts cautious, but still optimistic, that semiconductor revenues will continue to grow in 2008.