That sharply contrasts with growth in 2017 of 21.6 percent, based on actual figures from the industry.

Nevertheless, despite this dip in growth, the WSTS said that 2018 is likely to deliver revenues of $451 billion.

Last year revenues from the industry amounted to $412.2 billion, an all time high.

All product sectors will grow, but the strongest areas will be memory, optoelectronics and logic.