October 29, 2007 – Worldwide semiconductor sales rose ~5% for the second consecutive month to a record $22.60 billion in Sept. 2007, riding demand for PCs and cell phones as seasonal patterns build to a head, according to data from the SIA.
A surge in consumer product demand (+35% in 3Q07 vs. 2Q07) drove chip sales, mainly in two familiar categories: PCs and cell phones, which helped push NAND flash sales by ~46% Q-Q/~59% Y-Y, while boosting ASPs by nearly 32% Q-Q, noted SIA president George Scalise, in a statement. The SIA cited recent data from Gartner projecting 14.4% PC unit sales in 3Q vs. 2Q, and consequently an 18.7% increase in microprocessor revenues. Cell phone unit sales from the top four vendors, meanwhile, rose about 11% in 3Q.
Preliminary chip sales (based on a three-month moving average) were up M-M across all regions, led for a change by the US (6.2%), ahead of the Asia-Pacific (5.2%). Year-on-year, though, the US continues to be the only region to show declines, though now mitigated somewhat to -2.2% — still that’s the ninth straight month of monthly Y-Y declines, counting every month so far in 2007. Asia-Pacific dominated Y-Y growth again with ~10%, followed by Japan (5.8%) and Europe (3.5%).
Preliminary totals for 3Q07 (actual chip sales, not an average) show chip sales of $6.78B, about 13.2% higher than 2Q, slightly bigger than a year ago but still indicative of a seasonal jump (0.4% in 2Q06 to 7.9% in 3Q06). Year-on-year, 3Q sales grew a bit slower than in 3Q06 (5.9%, vs. ~9%), following a pattern of the past few quarters.
Through the first three quarters of 2007, chip sales totaled $188.8B, roughly 3.5% ahead of the same pace a year ago, and slightly ahead of the SIA’s projections in June. Scalise noted that the specter of higher energy prices has not yet had an impact on the semiconductor industry, but “will bear watching” heading into the year-end retail selling season.
Worldwide semiconductor sales*, September 2007
(US $B)
Market……..Current month……..vs. prior month (%)…………….vs. year-ago (%)
Americas…………….3.81……………………3.58 (6.2%)……………………3.89 (-2.2%)
Europe………………..3.53……………………3.38 (4.6%)…………………..3.41 (3.5%)
Japan………………….4.26……………………4.10 (3.8%)……………………4.02 (5.8%)
Asia Pacific………..11.01…………………..10.47 (5.2%)…………………10.02 (9.9%)
TOTAL……………….22.60………………….21.53 (5.0%)…………………21.34 (5.9%)
Market…………….Jul/Aug/Sept……………Apr/May/Jun (%)
Americas……………………3.81……………………3.31 (15.0%)
Europe……………………….3.53……………………3.21 (10.2%)
Japan…………………………4.26……………………3.88 (9.8%)
Asia Pacific……………….11.01……………………9.57 (15.0%)
TOTAL……………………..22.60………………….19.97 (13.2%)
* Based on three-month average
Source: SIA