Since order visibility for consumer electronics ICs is still low and IC distributors have not yet cleared out their inventories, December sales of consumer electronics ICs are expected to decline from November.
Notebook customers have lowered their shipment targets, so the shipment volume in November and December are not as good as previously expected, said Sonix Technology, which focuses on notebook camera products. The company only expects order visibility for netbook applications to improve in 2009, and inventory of downstream companies will not be cleared completely until after the Lunar New Year.
Taiwan IC design houses forecast demand for the Lunar New Year in 2009 will drop over 10% from previous years.
Microcontroller (MCU) maker Holtek Semiconductor also expects to see a decline in December sales.
However, toy IC maker Prescope Technologies is optimistic about sales in December and the company expects its sales to hit a record thanks to new products in the education and toy segments, as well as 10-20% growth in other segments.
Article translated by Meiling Chen
