Analyst IDC has lowered its forecast for semiconductor sales revenue growth to 5% for this year, in the same week that Future Horizons lowered its growth forecast to 4%
Gartner Dataquest is projecting 5% while iSuppli is saying 7%.
Growth applications markets are tablets and e-readers, said IDC, declining applications are DVDs and games consoles.
According to Future Horizons, the biggest growth areas in terms of $s between 2009 and 2014 are: Zigbee (475%), Wimax (213%), UWB (546%), in-shop RF-ID tags (287%), NFC (104%) and digital radio (120%).
Quarter by quarter, Future Horizons sees a flat Q2 followed by a +4% Q3, and a + 1.6% Q4, ending up with a 2011 worldwide semiconductor market worth $320bn.