Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization:
The 2008 Annual Revision
Figure 4. Industrial production: Selected high-technology industries, January 1998-June 2008. The figure contains one panel that shows the production indexes for communications equipment, computers, and semiconductors; the data are plotted as curves. Ratio scale, 2002 = 100. The panel has a shaded region for the 2001 recession as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The output of semiconductors increased the most rapidly of the three series from 1998 to mid-2008, and the level in June 2008 was roughly 15 times the level at the beginning of 1998. In mid-2008, the output index for computers was roughly 3-1/2 times its level in early 1998; the output index for communications equipment stood about 2-1/2 times its level at the beginning of 1998. Production of communications equipment showed the sharpest drop during the 2001 recession, roughly 20 percent, and fell further during 2002. The output of semiconductors fell about 8 percent, and the output of computers dipped less than 4 percent during the recession.
Note: For the NAICS categories of these industries, refer to the note to figure 3.