"The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment report offers a simple but meaningful explanation of the underlying forces that are driving the never-ending, global bandwidth explosion, " said Brad Smith, senior vice president and industry analyst with LightCounting.com, a market research firm that analyzes and forecasts high-speed interconnects.

ENGADGET: IEEE pushes for Ethernet standard between 400Gbps and 1Tbps, hopes to head off big data crunch

Early 60 GHz implementations based on the WiGig specifications are entering the market now and ABI Research forecasts that by 2016, annual shipments of devices with both Wi-Fi and WiGig technology will reach 1.8 billion.

ENGADGET: WiFi and WiGig Alliances become one, work to promote 60GHz wireless

It was designed and formulated by CEA Market Research, the most comprehensive source of sales data, forecasts, consumer research and historical trends for the consumer electronics industry.

ENGADGET: Shocker: CEA's spending report finds Americans buying more technology

Other semiconductor market research firms have also recently reduced their forecasts, and have changed their growth outlooks for 2012 from positive to negative numbers.

FORBES: WSTS Reduces 2012 Semiconductor Forecast