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Claire Sung, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 15 April 2009]
Orders from the netbook and 3G handset segments will help drive foundry growth for the third quarter of 2009, sources at semiconductor makers have commented. The sector already hit bottom in the first quarter of this year, followed by the current quarter in which foundry players have seen utilization rates rebound thanks to short lead-time orders. The sources estimated that overall foundry manufacturing utilization fell to 40-50% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the sector may see the rate rebound slightly to 50-60% in the current quarter, buoyed by increased orders mainly from the domestic Chinese market due to the China government's stimulus program, as well as more inventory restocking for 3G wireless handsets. According to information gathered by Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS), the global IC capacity utilization rate fell to 69.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from 90.7% in the first quarter. The foundry manufacturing sector simultaneously slid from 93.7% to 60.4%. For Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), orders for advanced low-voltage processors are expected to become a chief revenue driver in the coming quarter, according to the sources. The foundry service provider last month reached an agreement with Intel to collaborate on system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for Atom CPU cores, which are likely to find increasing adoption in embedded CPU market segments such as smartphones and netbooks. According to Digitimes Research, the global netbook market will reach a scale of 27.7 million units in 2009, up 90% from 14.5 million in 2008. The growth projection outperforms the estimate for the overall notebook market of a 13.2% increase. 
Source: SICAS, compiled by Digitimes, April 2009 
Source: SICAS, compiled by Digitimes, April 2009 
Source: Digitimes Research, compiled by Digitimes, April 2009
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