Semicon outsourcing services grows 11pc in 2008

Outsourcing services now a key part of manufacturing chain, says Gartner outsourcing services revenue is on pace to total $47.4 billion in 2008, a 10.8 percent increase from 2007 revenue of $42.8 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. The market is forecast to reach $66.8 billion in 2012. "During these tough economic times, product design is the major competitive advantage and must be the major focus for resources," said Jim Walker, research vice president at Gartner. "Installing and maintaining captive semiconductor manufacturing facilities has become a huge burden with the cost of building a state of the art wafer fabrication facility currently coming in at between $3 billion and $4 billion. The management of capital risk versus reward will only serve to promote the growth of outsourcing in the future." Worldwide foundry... [read full story]