According to In-Stat, while Peer-2-Peer and piracy issues have not entirely disappeared, consumers are showing heightened awareness and interest in legitimate online music services -- "The worldwide online music market is expected to grow 134% this year, reaching $1 billion for the first time. With increased competition between sites this year, differentiation will be a key strategy. Sites are building larger catalogs and working with labels to offer new types of digital content, such as live concerts and remixes. In addition, branding and customer loyalty will be a primary focus. In-Stat's survey found that the average amount spent in the past year for online music was $25. Over half of the survey respondents who have downloaded music from the Internet admitted to not paying for it. And, 35% of the respondents are owners of an MP3 player, with 70% saying it was their first one."
The global semiconductor industry is experiencing a historic acceleration driven by surging investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and computing power. According to the latest IDC worldwide market study, 2025 marks a defining year in which AI's pervasive impact reconfigures industry economics and propels record growth across the compute segment of the semiconductor market. Semiconductor Market Development IDC’s latest data reveals an insightful projection: The compute segment of the semiconductor market is on track to grow 36 percent in 2025, reaching $349 billion. This segment, which encompasses logic chips powering CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators, will sustain a robust 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030. These numbers underscore not only current momentum but a structural shift driven by large-scale adoption of AI workloads spanning cloud, edge, and on-premises deployment models. The scale of investment is unprecedented. As organizations ...