SAN JOSE – July sales of semiconductors increased 2.2% worldwide year-over-year, growing to $20.6 billion. Sales were up 3.2% from June, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today.

Growth was mainly attributable to increases in sales of microprocessors, MOS logic devices and NAND flash memory products. “Prices climbed slightly in several large segments of the semiconductor market, and price erosion in the memory sector slowed significantly in July as unit shipments grew, contributing to a sequential increase in worldwide chip sales,” said SIA president George Scalise.

Unit sales grew by nearly 5% from June while average selling prices increased by a bit more than 3%. DRAM ASPs declined but slowed to less than 2% from June. NAND flash unit shipments were flat sequentially, but ASPs rose more than 8% and total revenues from NAND flash products grew by nearly 8% from June.

Demand came from PCs, cellphones, and other consumer electronics, in line with analysts’ projections, Scalise said. “At this stage, it does not appear that the fallout from problems in the subprime mortgage arena has had a significant impact on consumer purchases of electronics products. This is a concern that bears watching going forward."

Worldwide chip sales are on track with SIA's revised forecast of 1.8% growth, Scalise said.

• Prev
• Next