News

SAN JOSE – February worldwide sales of semiconductors fell 6.5% from January to $20.09 billion, SIA reported today. February sales increased 4.2% from $19.28 billion February 2006. “While seasonality clearly contributed to the decline, declining unit shipments and lower average selling prices in several key market segments were a factor,” said SIA president George Scalise. “Unit sales of microprocessors were up almost 8% while ASPs declined 15%, and NAND flash units grew by over 40% while experiencing a nearly 50% drop in ASPs. PCs and consumer products now account for approximately 60% of semiconductor sales,” he said. Overall capacity utilization fell to 86.8% in the fourth quarter from 88.9% in the third quarter. Most of the decline was in foundry utilization, which fell to 80.9% in the fourth quarter from 91.5%. The lower capacity utilization reflected reduced inventories within the supply chain, a move expected to bring production in line with GDP performance in key world markets.