Price increases for both DRAM and NAND flash memory are raising the outlook for the overall semiconductor market.

Samsung Electronics ranked first in terms of production of sub 28-32 nanometer chip foundry in the first quarter of the year, data showed on Monday.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues reached US$299.9 billion in 2012, down 2.6% from 2011, according to Gartner.

Bucking the industry trend and rising three places to No. 3, Qualcomm attributed its 29.6% growth to continued adoption of smartphones and the growth of 3G and LTE technology in emerging regions, such as China and India.

Worldwide IT spending is on pace to reach US$3.6 trillion in 2012, a 3% increase from 2011 spending of US$3.5 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc. The outlook has been revised up slightly from the 2.5% projection last quarter.

Leading electronic equipment manufacturers remained the center of the semiconductor world in 2011, accounting for US$105.6 billion of semiconductors on a design total available market basis - 35% of semiconductor vendors' worldwide chip revenue, according to Gartner.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to reach US$309 billion in 2012, a 2.2% increase from 2011, according to Gartner. This outlook is down from Gartner's previous projection in the third quarter for 4.6% growth in 2012.

Maria Marced, European president of TSMC, has pushed back against claims by market researchers at Gartner that foundries are having problems with yield on 28nm process technologies. For TSMC the roll out of the 28nm chip manufacturing node is "on plan," Marced told EE Times.

Enterprise IT spending will stagger and fall this year but may back on one leg in 2012 despite swingeing public sector cuts and the looming Eurozone financial catastrophe.

"[Making] bulk silicon HKMG at 28nm is hard. All foundries are having yield issues and defect density issues right now," said Bob Johnson, research vice president at Gartner.

A recent survey of 344 senior financial executives by Gartner and two financial management associations found that CFOs "authorized" 26% of IT investments.

Acer dropped from No. 2 to the No. 4 position in the worldwide PC market in the second quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. It had a great deal of inventory in the distribution channel in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Acer's problems stemmed from its low-price, high-volume business model, which is no longer effective.

"It is a bit surprising that we have not seen a more significant impact on our global IT spending forecast as a results of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but despite widespread concerns about disruptions to the supply of critical components in the initial aftermath of the natural disaster, there has not been a dramatic impact on overall IT spending," said Richard Gordon, research VP at Gartner.

Consumer solid-state drives will have a break-out year in 2012 due to falling prices, which will make SSDs a primary storage option for mainstream users, Gartner said.

The worldwide semiconductor equipment market grew 143% in 2010 to nearly US$41 billion as the market recovered from the industry slowdown of the previous two years, according to Gartner.

Prices of DRAM fell for the first time in over a year in June, as companies increased production and PC vendors toughened their stance on further price increases. Analysts now say prices will slide for the rest of the year.

Perhaps because of that history major suppliers have not been installing capacity, which indicates that prices will continue to increase until at least the last quarter of 2010, when capacity may again be able to meet demand, according to a Gartner analyst.

For some time, there has been shortages of DRAMs, causing prices to increase for both DDR2 and DDR3. Now, PC OEMs have reached the boiling point amid the price hikes.

Chip design outsourcing growth fell to 6.5% in 2008, down from nearly 34% the year earlier, and the number of chip design starts are expected to fall another 18% this year...

By the end of 2011, ARM will be a "small but significant" PC processor architecture, said a Gartner analyst.

"I don't think the memory companies are going to learn their lesson until the next cycle," said a Gartner analyst, conjuring up the vision of the memory companies as a room full of bad boys sitting in the principal's office

The past several semiconductor downturns have resulted in transitions from one generation of packaging to the next. This one's no exception.

According to Gartner Inc analysis, both memory segments showed some pricing gains in the business week ending April 10.

According to new market share figures from Gartner, both Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology have gained the most share in the DRAM market in the fourth quarter of 2008, as rivals struggle to preserve cash by cutting production. Samsung held a 29.5% market share in 3Q08 but saw this increase to 31.1% in the 4Q08. Micron saw its share increase from 8.8% in 3Q08 to 11.0% in 4Q08, thanks to strong bit growth. Micron also moved into fourth place in Gartner's DRAM company rankings.

Gartner is canceling two of its biggest technology conferences due to the economic downturn. "As a result of this review, we have decided to cancel this year's Spring Symposium/ITxpo in Las Vegas and Barcelona. While a number of factors influenced this decision, the primary reason for the change is the current macro economic environment and its anticipated impact on attendee travel and overall event attendance," Gartner said in the statement.

Gartner analysts have advised CIOs in the Asia Pacific region to plan for future growth. Speaking in the opening keynote presentation at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Sydney, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research Peter Sondergaard said that an economic downturn can be a perfect time to undertake projects that warrant priority, because of their impact on future growth.

Amid a downturn in DRAMs, Samsung Electronics remains the top supplier in the arena, according to the new rankings from Gartner. In terms of sales, Samsung was the world's largest DRAM maker in the third quarter of 2008, followed by in order Hynix, Elpida, Qimonda, Micron, Nanya, Powerchip and ProMOS, according to the rankings. Germany's Qimonda AG gained share and took fourth place, surpassing Micron. But Qimonda's fortunes could be short lived.

Market research group Gartner has lowered its forecast for semiconductor equipment manufacturing gear sales in 2009, just weeks after a previous downgrade.

Gartner today lowered its capital and equipment spending forecast for the second time in as many months, warning that the next year could see a capital spending decline of about 17% and capital equipment revenue decline of 18%. The revised forecast comes after Gartner in October suggested 2009 equipment demand would be slower than anticipated.

In the Gartner report, analysts Ken McGee and Mark McDonald cite government data, results of a survey of about 1,000 CIOs, and recent quarterly reports from top vendors to reaffirm an assessment made earlier this year that IT spending won't turn negative. Tech stocks have taken a beating on Wall Street but have recovered some this week.