Global chip sales rose 5% in November to $11.38bn, the industry’s highest mark since December 1997, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. According to the SIA’s Global Sales Report, sales in Japan and the Asia-Pacific climbed 7% and 4.8%, respectively, while sales in Europe also jumped 7.3% from October. The smallest growth was seen in the Americas where sales climbed just 2%. The association points out that November was the third consecutive month of strong growth in the industry, signaling the reversal of the recession which bottomed in July. Overall sales in the fourth quarter are said to be surpassing the SIA’s expectations – with about 10% growth over the prior quarter – and should make for a stronger close to 1998 than originally anticipated. The numbers came out in the same week that the SIA hosted its annual Industry Strategy Symposium at which the industry brass portrayed a market poised for a legitimate recovery. Growth for this year should be about 7%, according to Jean-Philippe Dauvin, group vice president and chief economist at ST Microelectronics Inc, but between 1999 and 2003 the chip market should see growth rates of about 20% per annum. Overall demand is expected to get a boost from such things as mobile communications devices, computer peripherals, and the automotive industry. SEMI president Stan Myers, meanwhile, says that DRAM prices are firming and there is a pickup in wafer starts. The consensus is that things will pick up about mid-year, when demand is begin equaling supply, at which point the double-digit growth will become a reality. Clark Fuhs, vice president and director for Gartner Group, adds that even the Asian market is now on a sustainable recovery path. Fuhs also predicts a spending boom from late 2000 until 2002, when he predicts there will be a DRAM shortage.
