FC Tseng, vice chairman for foundry VIS said that handset makers have too much inventory in their warehouses and the much hyped IoT market boom has not yet arrived.

In fact it is looking like 2015 will not be as good as 2014, which was pretty good at least as far as VIS was concerned.

Semiconductor demand for IoT applications will emerge, but no one has really worked out what the key drivers of IoT market growth will be, Tseng said.

Smartphones, devices such as watches, bracelets and glasses are all being identified as the popular applications when it comes to wearables and the Internet of Things.

VIS forecast that the global 2015 semiconductor market will increase 5 per cent in production value to $358 bn, while the foundry sector will grow by a larger 10 per cent on year to about S$50 bn.

VIS chairman and president Leuh Fang warned that the company has seen a low visibility of customer orders for the third quarter of 2015.

VIS reported record revenues and profits for 2014 and has been spending on capital expenditure like a mad thing in 2015.