SIA reports 5.4% increase in chip sales in the first half of 2008
By James Carbone -- Purchasing, 9/11/2008 2:00:00 AM
Global sales of semiconductors for the first half of 2008 grew to $127.5 billion, an increase of 5.4% over the first half of 2007, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in San Jose, Calif.
June sales of $21.6 billion were up by 8% from the $20 billion reported for June 2007. June sales increased by 0.5% from May when sales totaled $21.5 billion.
Second-quarter sales increased 3% to $64.7 billion from first-quarter sales of $62.8 billion. To date, increased energy costs have had little impact on demand for electronic products that drive semiconductor demand, according to the SIA.
"Continuing strength in international markets—coupled with healthy demand in the U.S.—helped drive higher worldwide sales of semiconductors in June," says SIA President George Scalise. Key demand drivers for semiconductors continued to show double-digit unit growth. Those drivers include personal computers, which account for 40% of semiconductor sales, and mobile phones, which drive about 20% of semiconductor demand.
Scalise says emerging markets are a major factor in driving worldwide semiconductor sales. PC unit sales in emerging markets are expected to grow by 19%—more than double the growth rate in developed markets this year.
"In 2008, developing countries with sales of over 153 million units will account for half of worldwide PC sales," says Scalise. In mobile phones developing countries are expected to account for 66% of total worldwide unit sales of over 1.3 billion, up from 61%, he says.
SIA notes that total semiconductor sales in June, excluding memory products, grew by 12% year-on-year. Price attrition in memory products contributed to a 6% year-on-year decline in total memory sales.
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