San Jose, California–Worldwide sales of semiconductors jumped 39.4% from a year ago to a record $18.66 billion in October 2000, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported today. For 2000, the chip industry remains on track for an annual growth rate of 37.1% over 1999, according to SIA’s ‘Global Sales Report,’ and will reach an industry sales record expected to exceed $200 billion.

“Sales were strong in all geographic markets and most product sectors,” says SIA President George Scalise. “Sectors that continue to report record sales include Flash, Standard Cells, Analog, Microprocessors, and Field Programmable Logic–which are currently driving the personal computer and consumer markets–along with the wired and wireless communications revolution.”

The SIA report found that while things remained relatively flat month-to-month, year-to-year sales totals rose. The Japanese market climbed 47.4%; the Asia/Pacific market rose 35.2%; the Americas market increased 41.3%, and the European market grew 33.2%.

From its beginning in the 1950s, the semiconductor industry has been characterized by a 4-year cycle, sporadically modified by unexpected economic factors. Over the past 40 years, the industry has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 17%.