Gloom and doom are the two words in most market studies for 2009, and most high-frequency company executives would be hard pressed to disagree with their results. In the semiconductor area of the market, for example, some large drops have been reported in sales and revenues for 2008 compared to 2007, with figures like 40 percent and more now sounding like "well-managed businesses" relative to some of the more disastrous revenue numbers.
Yet, companies in the military electronics side of the high-frequency industry, even relative newcomers to the market, have few complaints. Worldwide, that side of the business is stable, if not outstanding, and the firms that have remained in that market are buoyed by its relative economic strength. The problem for many companies is that not enough of their total business is dedicated to military electronics. The business in military electronics is hardly enough to compensate for the losses incurred in the commercial, consumer, and automotive markets. Some business pockets, such as medical and broadcast, are providing good returns but, again, their contributions to a company's bottom line are dwarfed by the losses from commercial markets. But there is always hope, since consumer spending essentially dictates the majority of commercial market growth, and consumers appear to have an insatiable appetite for fixed and mobile high-speed Internet access for games, data, videos, and more.