cloud confidence
High Hopes
The semiconductor confidence index is 59, up from the most recent low of 46 in 2011. A value above 50 for the next year is considered optimistic.
Sales Surge
81% of semiconductor senior executives said they expect their companies’ revenue to grow over the next year, compared with 77% a year ago.
Steady Investment
48% said they anticipate that their capital spending (for equipment and software) would increase by more than 5% over the next year, which is slightly higher than it was a year ago.
Research Effort
47% predicted that their R&D spending would increase by more than 5% in 2015, which is down from 52% a year ago.
Personnel Decision
38% said they expect to expand their workforce by more than 5% in 2015, which is the same as a year ago.
Top Semiconductor Growth Drivers, Part I
61% said that sensors would emerge as the “most important” driver of industry growth and 54% said microprocessors would.
Top Semiconductor Growth-Driving Sectors, Part II
50% indicated that optoelectronics would play a lead role in driving industry growth and 47% said memory technologies would.
Essential Apps
55% said that cloud computing apps would most support their revenue stream over the next year while 53% said that big data/analytics apps would.
Market Forecast
66% said that the medical market would provide the strongest growth opportunities in 2015, and 62% said the networking and communications market would.
Major Hurdles
43% said that increasing R&D costs would present some of the biggest industry challenges for the next three years while 37% said tech breakthroughs would. And 32% said the high cost of plants and equipment would bring on significant challenges.
Transaction Tool
56% predicted that mobile payments would become the dominant method of payment within the next two years.