Portables Catch Up with Desktops

The dot-com crash and high-tech slump are finally in the industry's rear-view mirror, according to IDC. The market watchers say that economic recovery and rising consumer PC demand in the second half of 2003 gave a boost to the PC semiconductor market, but that IT managers will get into the act as the CPU recovery hits its stride in the second half of this year.

Overall, IDC predicts that PC semiconductor revenue will grow 18 percent -- to $53.6 billion -- in 2004, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent from 2003 ($45.4 billion) to 2008 ($66.1 billion). While consumer desktops took the spotlight during the 2003 holiday shopping season, the hottest segment now is the mobile market, with more than five times the CAGR (16.1 percent) of the desktop PC chip business; all mobile PC price brands are forecast to grow, versus only desktop PC prices below $1,000.