Gartner reports that worldwide semiconductor spending won't be quite as high as previously thought. The psychic bean counters at Gartner now believe semiconductor spending in 2012 will reach $309 billion worldwide, a 2.2 percent increase from 2011, but down from Gartner's previous forecast of 4.6 percent growth.

The floods in Thailand earlier this year resulted in a hard drive shortage, and that in turn has slowed the PC market. But lest anyone talk about the post-PC era, PC production unit growth is still expected to grow 5 percent in 2012. Gartner's previous forecast had the PC market growing by 10.1 percent.

Source: MaximumPC