January chip sales slip 5.7% from December, says SIA
Semiconductor Business News
(03/07/01 13:00 p.m. PST)
SAN JOSE -- Worldwide chip sales dropped 5.7% sequentially to $16.87 billion in January from $17.89 billion in December, reflecting the industry's excess inventory problems and a slowdown in demand, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association this week.
Compared to a year ago, January's chip sales were 13.7% higher than $14.84 billion in January 2000, said the SIA, which uses a three-month moving average for monthly revenue figures.
"Current forecasts suggest the inventory adjustment will be completed by the end of the third quarter, and end-market product demand will improve later in the year," said George Scalise, president of the San Jose-based trade group. Last week, IC Insights Inc. predicted that chip revenues would begin to grow on a sequential basis during the third quarter (see March 2 story).
The SIA monthly sales report, released on Monday (March 5), shows all market regions slipping in sales during January from December 2000. Chip sales in the Americas dropped 5.8% to $5.23 billion in January from $5.55 billion in December, while semiconductor revenues in Japan fell 5.9% to $4.04 billion from $4.31 billion in December, the report said.
The largest sequential drop in sales was recorded in the Asia Pacific market, which declined 7.9% to $3.97 billion in January from $4.30 billion in the prior month. The SIA report showed European chip sales dropping 2.7% to $3.62 billion in January from $3.73 billion in December.
On a year-to-year basis, semiconductor sales in the Americas grew 15.4% in January from $4.3 billion in January 2000. Chip sales in Japan were up 23.2% from $3.29 billion in January last year. Asia Pacific chip revenues nudged up 2.9% in January from $3.85 billion in the month last year, while Europe's semiconductor revenues were 14.6% higher than $3.16 billion in January 2000, said the SIA report. |
