Reflecting the increasing shift in electronic equipment production to Asia, Gartner said the region is the only one in the world to post growth this year with a sales boom of 24 percent.
Asia-Pacific, including China, is the largest regional semiconductor market, accounting for one-third of global sales, said Dorothy Lai, senior analyst at Gartner Asia-Pacific.
Strong consumer product shipments such as DVD players and digital TVs in Japan and Asia-Pacific have boosted revenues for Japanese vendors like Matushita, Sanyo and Sharp, Lai added.
According to Gartner, global semiconductor revenues totaled US$155.4bn in 2002, a slim 1.4 percent increase from the previous year.
This compares with a drastic 32 percent decline last year on worldwide revenues of US$153.2bn.
Gartner's preliminary research showed Intel is still at the helm of the Asia-Pacific semiconductor market with a 13.6 percent share. This is followed by Samsung with a 5.7 percent while STMicroelectronics trails third with 5.2 percent.
The standings are similar on a worldwide level. Intel and Samsung remain as the top two vendors while Toshiba replaces STMicroelectronics in third.
The firm's findings closely mirror earlier reports by other industry bodies. According to a report released by the American Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) last month, chip sales will grow by 1.8 percent to US$141bn this year.
SIA further predicted a 19.8 percent year-on-year growth to US$169bn in 2003 and a 21.7 percent increase the year after.
