To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (40015 ) 8/4/2003 10:51:16 PM From: Johnny Canuck Read Replies (1) | Respond to Chip sales show signs of life IT hardware sales have suffered through a prolonged downturn since the explosive growth of the late 1990s, with many PC sellers predicting that sales will stick to growth rates in the single digits for the foreseeable future. PCs showed relatively sluggish growth for the second quarter, showing a rise of just under 8 percent compared with the same quarter of 2002, which supported 8.2 percent growth for microprocessors. Other sectors grew much more quickly year-over-year, with demand for broadband services sparking a 27.1 percent increase in the programmable logic devices used in DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem products. Optoelectronics grew 33.9 percent from strong sales of optical consumer devices such as DVD players and digital cameras, while flash memory, typically used in consumer electronics and mobile phones, was up 37.1 percent year over year. Europe did not take part in the rising sales, with sales down sequentially 4.1 percent for the second quarter, the result of slow economic growth and outsourcing to Asia, the SIA said. In Japan, sales grew 5.3 percent quarter-on-quarter, Asia Pacific sales rose 5.9 percent, and sales in the Americas were up 3.6 percent. In another positive sign, the SIA said that vendors have reduced excess inventory in the supply chain, and now hold stocks at low levels.
