December 5, 2005 – Worldwide sales of semiconductors surpassed $20 billion in October, a new milestone for the industry, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Worldwide semiconductor sales were up 6.75% from the $18.8 billion reported for October 2004. Sales were up 2.5% sequentially from the $19.6 billion reported for September.

“Strong demand for consumer electronics drove worldwide chip sales over $20 billion in October,” said SIA president George Scalise. “A sharp rebound in consumer confidence was reflected in strong sales of a broad range of consumer products, such as cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, digital TVs, and personal computers.” Scalise said that demand for semiconductors was strong in all industry sectors, noting that all of the semiconductor product lines tracked by SIA saw sequential sales increases in October.

“Industry sales continue to track with our forecast of 6.8% growth to $228 billion in 2005. Inventories are in balance, and production capacity utilization remains in the healthy 90% range,” Scalise concluded.