SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached an all-time monthly record of $20.5 billion in August, rising 10.5% over August 2005, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported Monday. Sales increased  2.1% from July.

The previous record for one-month worldwide chip sales was $20.4 billion in November 2005.

“Once again we saw relatively strong sales across a very broad range of semiconductor products, which reflects healthy end markets,” said SIA president George Scalise in a written statement.

DRAMs rose 7.5% from July and 31.4 percent from last year, indicating strong PC sales. Microprocessors increased 2.1% from July and fell 6.8% from a year ago. Unit sales increased, but average selling prices for microprocessors fell 18% year-on-year .

“Semiconductor devices for consumer applications – NAND flash and consumer application-specific semiconductors – showed strong sequential growth, as manufacturers began gearing up for the holiday season,” Scalise said. “A sharp decline in gasoline prices appears to have boosted consumer confidence, which bodes well for an industry that is now strongly driven by sales of consumer electronic products.”

More than 50% of IC sales now come from the consumer market, and semiconductor content of newer consumer products such as cellphones, flash MP3 players and digital cameras accounts for an average of 40 % of the cost.

Inventories are higher but not out of line, Scalise said. “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."

Capacity utilization remains strong. VLSI Research estimates that capacity utilization, which was at 92%  in the second quarter, will remain at 95% for the remainder of the year. Capacity utilization remains high even as new 300mm manufacturing facilities continue to come on line. Facilities producing 300mm wafers now account for nearly one-quarter of total capacity – up from less than 15% at this time last year.