Worldwide semiconductor sales continued to grow in August, according to the latest figures from the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sales reached $11.96bn, up 3.5% sequentially over July’s figure of $11.56bn, and 22% over August 1998’s figure of $9.82bn. Year-on-year, Japanese and Asia Pacific markets saw growth surges of 31.7% and 30.1% respectively. The Americas market grew 18.1% and Europe 9.9% over last year. The European growth rates mark a recovery over the past six months, when growth in Europe had been falling
The growth was partly due to increased unit sales of PCs, the largest consumer of semiconductors. According to International Data Corp predictions, unit shipments are expected to be up 25% in the third quarter over last year, and 7% up from the second quarter, at the time of year when PC sales are normally sluggish. Sport market sales for DRAMs is up substantially, and in some cases has doubled since mid-year, according to Dataquest.
The SIA says that as the industry enters the fourth quarter, it is witnessing the first double-digit annual growth since 1995. As well as PCs, the industry is being driven by communications products, the internet and e-commerce. It says it’s watching closely to see how the recent earthquake in Taiwan affects the market, and says that although it expects to see tight supply, an increase in spot DRAM prices and potentially higher semiconductor prices in the short-term, it doesn’t believe there will be any longer term impact.
