Growth in chip sales slows, Europe hot, U.S. flat
siliconstrategies.com
By Peter Clarke
Semiconductor Business News
(11/29/02 07:03 a.m. EST)
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Global semiconductor sales reached $12.5 billion in October 2002, a 1.8% sequential increase from the $12.3 billion in revenue achieved in September 2002 and a 20% increase from the $10.4 billion total recorded in October 2001.
But the growth rate has slowed. October's sales followed September sales up about 3.3% from the August sales total of $11.9 billion.
The flattening trend is all the more significant because the SIA does not publish monthly sales figures but numbers that are a three-month moving average of the monthly sales data. The SIA said that using a moving average is a mathematical technique to smooth the peaks and troughs that might otherwise be seen due to companies' monthly financial calendars.
The October numbers also show a change in regional behavior with Europe coming through as the hottest market, overtaking AsiaPacific and Japan. Semiconductor sales in Europe grew 6.2% in October led by a strong wireless market, according to the SIA, while chip sales rose 1% in the Asia-Pacific market and sales were up 2% in Japan. Sales in the Americas rose just 0.5% and this is ascribed to a continuing migration of electronic equipment production US-based facilities to the Asia Pacific region.
"Having achieved three quarters of continually rising growth, including 5.6% in the first quarter, 5.8% in the second and 8.2% growth in 2002's third quarter, our forecast calls for moderation in the year's final quarter, consistent with normal year-end patterns - steady but sustainable growth across broad product sectors,” said George Scalise, SIA president, in a statement.
The wireless sector is growing the most briskly, the SIA said, and said this had driven the value of flash memory sales up 6.9% in a month while sales of DSPs were up 4.4% in October. Even components serving a sluggish PC market showed growth with DRAM sales up 1.2% and microprocessor revenue rising 6.5%, the SIA said.
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