A steep decline in the fourth quarter turned the tables on an otherwise stable market, sending sales down 5.4 percent in 2008.
This year could be a lot worse.
Gartner said its final analysis of the 2008 market showed worldwide sales of $255 billion, off $14.5 billion from 2007. The research firm monitors 275 chip suppliers.
Because of the recession, “we can expect considerable market consolidation going forward,” said Principal Research Analyst Peter Middleton.
Intel, the largest semiconductor company, saw sales fall a modest 0.5 percent last year. But number two company Samsung suffered a 15 percent plunge. Qualcomn, the eighth largest company, saw sales rise 15.3 percent, the best performance among the top 10.
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