Chip industry to see steady growth

The global semiconductor market looks set for four to six percent growth this quarter from the prior three months, easing fears that first-quarter growth was an anomaly, market researcher Gartner Dataquest said on Wednesday. "I think the most likely case is that we have four, five, six percent growth sequentially in the second quarter," Dataquest analyst Richard Gordon told a seminar. That would follow quarter-on-quarter growth of six percent in January-March, fueling optimism over a recovery in the semiconductor industry from its worst-ever slump last year. "We were a little bit concerned that the first quarter performance was a blip based on inventory replenishment in the industry," Gordon said. --Reuters