World chip sales fell 39.8 pct in Jan-WSTS
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Worldwide chip sales in January dropped slightly compared with the usually busy month of December, but a recovery for the battered sector is in the air, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).
The keenly awaited industry numbers, which showed a marked upturn of activity in Asia, were published in Europe, some eight hours before their scheduled release, surprising traders.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Stock Index (^SOXX - news), the chip industry's equity barometer, lost 7 points after the release to 592 points, but later recovered to 597 points.
Although analysts said the WSTS numbers were not a big surprise, they said they preferred to wait for the U.S. release from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) before giving on-the-record comments.
It was the first time the WSTS numbers were widely published by the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) and the European Electronic Component Manufacturers Association (EECA) which said they planned to issue the numbers every month.
The WSTS compiles statistics for the industry, but leaves the marketing of them to other groups such as SIA and ESIA.
Worldwide semiconductor sales fell 39.8 percent in January to $10.01 billion compared with the same month a year earlier.
Sales also fell month-on-month, down 1.7 percent compared with December 2001.
However, the health of the chip industry was looking slightly better compared with December, when sales were down 43.1 percent year-on-year and 4.0 percent month-on-month.
The semiconductor industry is struggling to emerge from its worst year in its short history. Sales fell some 30 percent in 2001, easily eclipsing the 17 percent tumble in 1985, as a result of sharply lower-than-expected demand for electronics such as cellphones and personal computers.
Chip makers have been slashing prices, squeezing profits and revenues, just to keep their factories, many of which were built during the boom years of the late 1990s, rolling.
U.S. LEADS THE FALL
Chip sales sharpest decline was in the Americas, where January sales dropped 51.8 percent to $2.47 billion.
Month-on-month revenues were almost flat, down just 0.1 percent.
In Japan and Europe, revenues were still clearly down month-on-month, falling 5.4 percent to $2.01 billion and 3.1 percent to $2.13 billion respectively.
In Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, where most of the world's electronics are manufactured, sales were on the rise again compared with December. Revenues rose 0.4 percent to $3.40 billion.
Year-on-year the region also leads the way, with sales down just 12.9 percent compared with January 2001, whereas Europe, Japan and the Americas were all down more than 40 percent.
Only one month earlier in December, sales in Asia Pacific were down 21.3 percent year-on-year. |
