Semicon consumption to increase in India: Gartner

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: According to Gartner, India's chip consumption is projected to rise to $9.2 billion in 2012, up 20 per cent from 2011. These figures indicate that, India could be the fastest growing market in terms of semiconductor consumption in 2012.

Ganesh Ramamoorthy, research director at Gartner said "Semiconductor consumption in India is being driven from the changing demographics, increasing consumer affluence, economic growth and favourable government policy."

Ramamoorthy feels that, semiconductor consumption is expected to grow at a rapid pace as global electronic equipment manufacturers continue to expand their production facilities in India. Nokia has recently announced that, it will move its production facilities to the Asia-Pacific region and this seen to be benefitting India, where Nokia already has a large production facility.

As per Gartner’s prediction, mobile phones, PCs and LCD TVs will account for nearly three-fourths of India's semiconductor consumption in 2012. "The improving consumer sentiment on the back of strong domestic economic growth and rising disposable income should prove 2012 a strong year for semiconductor consumption in India," Ramamoorthy explained.

Global semiconductor spending will reach $316 billion in 2012, a 4 per cent increase from 2011, with mobile phones, media tablets, PCs, servers, LCD TVs, solid state drives and set-top boxes expected to account for nearly 50 per cent of the total semiconductor consumption, Gartner predicts.