SIA: No surprise, Jan. chip sales down

Mar. 3, 2008 – Global sales of semiconductors took their seasonal dip in January, down -3.6% from December to $22.28M, but roughly flat with a year ago, according to the latest data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

“Virtually all product lines and all geographic markets experienced slightly lower sales in January,” said SIA president George Scalise, in a statement. Still, memory ASPs continue to erode due to ongoing pricing pressures (and despite modest growth in unit shipments (DRAM and NAND flash), which dents revenues. Without the memory segment, semiconductor sales rose 8.1% from a year ago.

Unit shipments of PCs and cell phones, which together represent ~60% of worldwide semiconductor sales, were in line with expectations, on pace for ~12% and 12%-15% annual growth in 2008, respectively, according to the SIA.

All regions saw slowing chip sales in January, but for once the Asia-Pacific wasn’t the brightest spot. Compared with December, Europe had the “best” growth with just a -2.5% decline, followed by Asia (-2.7%) and Japan (-4.8%), with the US once again lagging the pack (-5.6%).

Year-on-year, Japan was the only region to show any significant growth (8.0%), with Asia-Pacific essentially flat, Europe down slightly (-1.2%), and the US trailing well off the pace (-6.9%).

Continued worries about a sluggish US economy remain a concern, insofar as its potential impact on consumer spending trends. “The US economy has entered a period of slower growth that may impact consumer purchases of electronic products,” Scalise noted. “However the emergence and growth of large consumer markets outside the US has created new opportunities for chipmakers.”


Worldwide semiconductor sales*, January 2008
(US $B)

Market……..Current month……..vs. prior month (%)…………….vs. year-ago (%)

Americas…………….3.45……………………3.65 (-5.6%)……………………3.71 (-6.9%)
Europe………………..3.44……………………3.53 (-2.5%)…………………3.49 (-1.2%)
Japan………………….4.10……………………4.31 (-4.8%)…………………..3.80 (8.0%)
Asia Pacific………..10.49…………………..10.79 (-2.7%)………………..10.49 (0.0%)
TOTAL……………….21.49………………….22.28 (-3.6%)………………..21.48 (0.0%)

Market…………….Nov/Dec/Jan…………vs. Aug/Sep/Oct (%)

Americas……………………3.86……………………3.45 (-10.6%)
Europe……………………….3.61……………………3.44 (-4.6%)
Japan…………………………4.36……………………4.10 (-6.0%)
Asia Pacific……………….11.19…………………..10.49 (-6.3%)
TOTAL……………………..23.03………………….21.49 (-6.7%)

* Based on three-month average

Source: SIA

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