STMicro expects chip market to grow 22% next year

France's STMicroelectronics N.V. said it expects growth in the global semiconductor market to accelerate in 2004, driven by a gradual recovery in demand for computers and new products, including digital televisions and DVD recorders.Speaking at a conference in Tokyo, STMicroelectronics Corporate Vice President Alain Dutheil said there was a "good consensus" that the global chip market would grow 22% in 2004 after growing 16.5% in 2003.Dutheil said replacement demand for computers and wireless equipment from companies around the world would also drive growth in chip demand. The semiconductor maker said it expects China to post the fastest chip-market growth in 2004, pinning expansion there at 35%. That would be 13% above STMicro's average global chip-market growth forecast for that year.It expects the Japan market to grow 20% on year in 2004, slowing from STMicro's forecast of 26% growth in 2003.The company expects the European market to grow 14% on-year both this year and next.Given signs of economic recovery in the U.S., Dutheil said STMicro expects the U.S. chip market to grow 16% in 2004 after meager growth of just 3% this year.He said demand for digital and portable electronics products like mobile phones will continue to drive demand for flash memory chips. His company expects the global market for flash memory to grow 44% this year and 40% next year.Dutheil added that replacement demand from companies for personal computers would spur the market for dynamic random access memory and microcontrollers. STMicro expects this market to post double-digit growth in 2004.Source: Dow Jones Business News