NEW YORK -- End-market inventories of semiconductors remained low and stable in the September quarter, but distributors' inventories increased 8%, or $127  million, and 3 days from June.

SG Cowen said that inventories at buyers of semiconductors appear low and stable. Inventories at 49 major semiconductor customers fell in both dollar terms and days on a seqential basis, the firm said.
"We estimate that these inventories decreased by $321million (0.3%) and fell 3 days from June. The increase in inventories at ECMs, was more than offset by a decrease at 15 major consumer electronics OEMs."

For the first time since September 2004, inventories at eight major electronics distributors increased in both dollar terms and days, but the results were impacted by Avnet's acquisition of Memec.

Excluding that acquisition, SG Cowen found that distributors' inventories grew 8% ($127 million) from June. The growth was attributed to typical build ahead of the holiday season. However, the firm said "it does raise some concern and bears further monitoring." 

Inventories at a group of 25 semiconductor vendors rose modestly in dollar terms, but fell slightly in days. Inventories rose 1%, or $81 million, from June, but declined from 72 days to 71. The dollar increase was driven by builds at Intel and AMD, among others.

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