ISuppli on Chip Market: Curb Your Enthusiasm

With Intel and AMD both dialing back expectations for their third quarters, citing weaker than expected demand for consumer PCs, it was only a matter of time before market research outfits began trimming back theirs as well. And iSuppli did just that this morning, dropping its 2010 semiconductor industry revenue growth forecast to 32 percent from 35.1. “There has been a significant slowdown in the second half in consumer demand for some electronic devices, including PCs,” iSuppli Senior VP Dale Ford said in a statement. “Meanwhile, inventories have been building throughout the semiconductor supply chain. These factors will conspire to cause a small sequential decline in semiconductor revenue in the fourth quarter.”

Disappointing.

That said, 2010 chip sales are still expected to hit $302 billion, up from $228 billion in 2009, despite the reduced outlook. But knowing that hasn’t had much effect on semiconductor stocks, which are mostly trading lower today.