Analyst outfit Gartner group says that chip prices are unlikely to rise too much this year. For the last year the industry has been bedeviled by stockpiles of large numbers of unsold chips.

Now chip inventory stockpiles have been shed,market turnaround is likely to happen. However full recovery will not take place in 2009, said the research firm. It predicts that things will stabilize until at least 2010, when the chip industry is forecast to return to a growth track.

Lately the industry had been opening the champers over increased revenues. However Gartner pointed out that it will take a lot of positive growth to overcome the declines of that were seen at the beginning of 2009. Nevertheless, the industry continues to shed inventory, which has made the current crisis manageable, Big G said.

Some are concerned that shortages in inventory will cause prices to rise. However Gartner said that although shortages could potentially occur, they will most likely be few and far between, and, given the current end demand, short-lived.

Gartner is expecting some consumer spending but is still short of a significant turnaround in the market.