SAN JOSE, CA – Worldwide semiconductor sales in October rose to $23.1 billion, an increase of 5% year-over-year, and an increase of 2% sequentially, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today.  
Year-to-date sales were $210.5 billion, up 3.9% year-over-year.
 
Year-to-date sales are on pace with the SIA’s November forecast of 3.8% growth in worldwide sales for 2007, the association said.
 
“Consumers are reaping huge benefits from continued rapid price attrition in key sectors of the semiconductor market,” said SIA president George Scalise. “Despite a 55% year-to-date increase in unit shipments, DRAM revenues are up only 4% [year-over-year].
 
“The story is similar in the microprocessor segment,” Scalise continued. “Strong unit demand for PCs has driven a 15% increase in unit sales of microprocessors for the first 10 months … compared to the same period of 2006. Revenues, however, are up only 4% compared to last year due to price attrition. Today’s typical personal computer costs less than a third of the typical unit of a decade ago, but is 100 times more powerful due to continuing advances in semiconductor technology that have driven down costs while significantly enhancing the speed, capacity, and performance of the chips that go into PCs.”
 
PC sales in the third quarter were stronger than expected, said SIA. Consequently, JPMorgan increased its forecast of growth in unit sales for the year from 11-12% to at least 13.5%.
 
Scalise noted early reports from U.S. retailers on “Black Friday” reported strong sales of consumer electronic products such as GPS systems, computers, MP3 players and electronics games.
 
“We will be closely watching consumer sales of electronic products through the holiday season,” said Scalise. “At this point, it does not appear that reported declines in consumer confidence or other concerns have affected sales of electronic products.”