Chip Sales Set Record in August
SAN
JOSE, Calif. (Oct.06) – Semiconductor sales worldwide surged to a
monthly record of $20.5 billion in August, fueled by higher demand for
memory chips used in PCs and mobile gadgets such as cell phones and
digital cameras, an industry group reported Monday.
The figure
was more than 10 percent higher than the $18.6 billion reported in
August 2005, and a slight increase from the $20.1 billion reported in
July, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
The previous one-month record for worldwide chip sales was $20.4 billion in November 2005.
Much
of the growth in August was driven by higher sales of dynamic random
access memory chips, which are widely used to store information in
computers and other electronics. Sales of DRAM chips increased by 31.4
percent from a year ago, and 7.5 percent from July.
Manufacturers
of mobile consumer products also were ramping up production for the
holiday season, driving up sales for NAND flash memory chips commonly
found in digital music players and cameras.
A decline in
gasoline prices also appears to have boosted consumer confidence, a
boon for an industry that sees about half its sales from consumer
products.
“Once again we saw relatively strong sales across a
very broad range of semiconductor products, which reflects healthy end
markets,” SIA President George Scalise said in a statement.
“Inventories have risen both at semiconductor manufacturers and in the
channel in recent months, but remain in line with requirements for the
holiday build season.”
Revenue from microprocessors – the chips
that serve as the brains of computers – declined by 6.8 percent from a
year ago as the average price has fallen 18 percent.
The San Jose-based SIA has represented U.S. chip manufacturers since 1977.