The global semiconductor industry is likely to shrink by almost a third this year, although there are early indications that the worst may be over by summer, the head of the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said yesterday.

Rick Tsai, chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, said the chip giant expected to report its first quarterly loss since 1990 for the first three months of this year amid weak consumer demand for electronic and information technology products in Europe and the US.