Although the average third quarter sequential increase in the worldwide IC market since 2002 has been 8%, last year’s 3Q growth rate was barely positive with a meager 1% increase. However, 3Q16 results were slightly above the past 15-year average and posted a strong 9% jump. Moreover, with an anticipated increase of 1% next quarter, the total 4Q16 IC market is forecast to climb to $76.9 billion, a new quarterly record high, surpassing the previous high of $76.7 billion posted in 4Q14.

It should be noted that the average second half versus first half of the year growth rate in the IC market since 1990, including the forecast for 2016, is 8.9%. However, IC Insights is forecasting that the 2H16 IC market will be up 12.3% as compared to 1H16, a strong turnaround from the extremely poor second half result of -1.2% posted last year and the highest second half growth rate since 2009.

With expectations for slightly better worldwide GDP growth in 2017 as compared to 2016 and continued firming of both DRAM and NAND memory prices, IC Insights believes that the worldwide IC market will grow by 4% next year.