Sales in the quarter amounted to $48.8bn, up 34% on the year. Normally the first quarter is down seasonally on the fourth quarter, but the latest figure was up slightly on the fourth quarter’s $48.1bn.
March sales were $16.28bn, up 32.3% on the year, and up 4.4% on February.
The organization seized on the unusual sequential rise as an indication of the strength of chip sector’s current upturn.
In a statement, SIA president George Scalise said the organization now expected full year sales growth to breach the 20% mark. The organization had forecast 19% growth back in February.
Scalise cited corporate spending growth, which grew by 11.5% in the first quarter, as a major driver of the figures. A pickup in corporate spending was the last piece in the jigsaw for an IT industry getting over the collapse in spending after the turn of the millennium.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
