July 3, 2003 – Worldwide sales of semiconductors totaled $12.50 billion in May, up 2.0% from $12.26 million in revenues in April 2003 and a 9.9% increase from May 2002 revenue of $11.38 billion, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). The total revenue is the highest in four months. The April figures were revised upwards from SIA’s earlier estimates of $12.14 billion, which would have been essentially flat growth from March to April.

SIA President George Scalise said that as the SARS epidemic and geopolitical issues come under control, “We expect to see demand in all geographic sectors, especially China, strengthen in the second half of the year.”

Sector sales figures were up across the board. Sales of programmable logic and standard cell chips increased 8.6% in May, possibly indicating the start of an anticipated pickup in telecom spending, according to the SIA. Flash memory sales were up 4.4%, compared with less than 1% gain in April, and ASSPs were up 3.7% in May, down from 6% growth in April. DRAM sales rebounded from a 5.1% drop in April to a 2.5% gain in May. Optoelectronics sales, at 2.5% in April, spiked to 6.3% in May.

In a year-by-year comparison, Japan led the way with a 26% increase in sales, with Asia Pacific up 11.7%, and Europe up 9.3%. Sales in the Americas declined by 6.7%, largely attributable to the continued trend of outsourcing electronic equipment production to Asia.