SAN FRANCISCO, Jul. 9, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- U.S. research firm iSuppli has reduced its forecasts for global semiconductor and electronic equipment sales in 2009, citing lingering economic woes and continuing poor visibility into future demand as reasons for the downgrade.

Global semiconductor revenue is set to fall 23 percent to 198.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 from a year earlier and worldwide electronic equipment revenue is expected to drop 9.8 percent to 1. 38 trillion dollars, iSuppli said in a report released on Wednesday.

In April, the research firm had predicted declines of 21.5 percent and 7.6 percent respectively.

"The global economy and technology industry has undergone a period of uncertainty and volatility," iSuppli's senior vice president Dale Ford said in a statement.

"With technology companies downgrading their forecasts, and with little visibility into future demand trends, conditions appear to be worse than previously expected in 2009," he added.

However, with the start of the second half of the year, conditions are looking up for both semiconductors and electronic equipment market, iSuppli noted in the report.

"There were signs that the economic decline was becoming less pronounced near the end of the first half," Ford said.

ISuppli is projecting that the semiconductor industry will show improvements beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009, which will provide the basis for an overall growth of 13.1 percent in 2010.

It also expects global electronic equipment sales to rise 4.9 percent next year.