Global chip sales increase sequentially for sixth straight month, SIA reports

SIA President George Scalise says that the group is "encouraged that industry momentum has turned positive following the steepest downturn in more than a decade."

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 10/2/2009

Worldwide sales of semiconductors in August were $19.1 billion, an increase of 5% from July when sales were $18.2 billion, the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) reported today.

The August sequential climb follows a month-on-month gain of 5.3% that SIA recorded for July. Weighing in on the SIA data, iSuppli Corp this morning said the July and August sales increases reveals a pattern of solid sequential growth for the first two months of Q3. The market research company estimates worldwide chip sales for the entire quarter expanded by 10.6% compared to Q2.

June, the closing quarter of Q2, also showed growth on May sales of 3.7%, according to SIA data. Indeed, on a month-over-month basis, sales have increased since March of this year when the SIA reported sales inched up 3.3% on February results.

Meanwhile, a look at year-over-year sales continue to show a decline. August sales dropped 16.1% from August 2008, when sales were $22.7 billion, SIA data showed. Sales were up sequentially in all geographic regions.

The SIA further reported that year-to-date sales through August are down 21.3% to $133.8 billion from $170.1 billion at this time last year. The rate of decline has slowed from the first six months of 2009 during which sales declined by 25% year-on-year.
 
“Continuing recovery of consumer spending led the sixth-consecutive month of sequential growth in semiconductor sales,” said SIA President George Scalise in a statement. “Various incentive programs for energy-efficient products, ranging from automobiles to home appliances, have bolstered demand for semiconductors, which deliver critical enabling technology for reducing energy consumption.
 
“Growing sales of netbook personal computers, which now account for approximately 17% of notebook PC unit sales, have created an  important new market segment, filling a gap between ‘smart cell phones’ and conventional laptop PCs,” Scalise continued. “Personal computers have become especially attractive to consumers as average selling prices for PCs have declined by around 14% while memory content has increased by 25% during the past year. This translates into significantly more computing power at a significantly lower price.”

Scalise noted that consumers now account for approximately half of all PC unit sales.
 
“Notwithstanding the slow recovery of demand from the enterprise sector, we are encouraged that industry momentum has turned positive following the steepest downturn in more than a decade,” Scalise concluded.