Semiconductor Assoc Sees Chip Sales Falling 1.8% In '98
PALO ALTO, Calif., (Dow Jones)--Semiconductor sales will decline 1.8% in 1998 as Asian economic woes contribute to a general market slowing, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
The forecast, released after market close, tones down the association's annual October prediction for a 16.8% sales increase this year.
"Industrywide expectations for a strong year in 1998 ran aground during the first weeks of the new year, when sales slowed in all markets," according to an association press release. "By the end of the first quarter, sales had declined 10.2% in the America(n) market, 4.9% in Europe, 11.5% in Japan and 9.7% in Asia Pacific" from the fourth quarter.
The gradual slowing of the global economy and continued pricing pressures from an oversupply of memory chips help explain the slowing, the trade group said.
In the microprocessor segment of the market - microprocessors are chips installed as the brains of computers - the popularity of sub-$1,000 machines pushed margins lower. As a result, sales of $23.4 billion will only match those of 1997, the association said.
"Dow Jones News Service"
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