The semiconductor market figures have been were skewed by exceptional buying from Huawei says CLSA (formerly Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia).
Huawei was stockpiling to mitigate the effects of a possible US export ban on US ICs, says CLSA.
CLSA estimates that this freak buying spree added 8% to Q1 semiconductor market growth worth $35 billion to $40 billion.
“Huawei’s inventory pre-build has helped related tech/semi suppliers to report better-than-expected or less-than-feared numbers in 1H19,” says CLSA analyst Sebastian Hou.
Huawei buys 8-9% of semiconductor sales and believes that the ban will cause a minimum 4% reduction to the 2019 semi market.
