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Semiconductor unit demand remains strong, says SIA |
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Mar 05, 2007 at 02:20 PM |
 The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors in January 2007 reached $19.66 billion - a 9.2 percent increase over the same month in 2006.
"January semiconductor sales reflected historical seasonal patterns, with strong year-on-year sales growth coupled with a modest sales sequential decline," said SIA President George Scalise. "The semiconductor industry continues to benefit from consumer confidence which has been buoyed by recent gains in both personal and disposable income.
January sales actually declined by 1.2 percent compared to the December 2006 figure of $21.74 billion, which was regarded as a lackluster month due to higher expectations of NAND flash sales in MP3 and related products. However, unit sales of MP3 players grew by nearly 40 percent for the year as a whole, according to the SIA.
However, the shift to low-cost mobile phones in emerging regions boosted phone sales to above 1 billion for the first time, higher than many market forecasts had anticipated.
"Final numbers for cell phone sales in 2006 show that shipments reached nearly 1.02 billion units, exceeding earlier estimates," Scalise continued. "Concerns about inventories in the previous quarter appear to have worked themselves out, and the forecast for unit growth in the range of 10 to 15 percent for 2007 appears to be realistic. The average semiconductor content of a cell phone is approximately $40 per unit, driving more than $40 billion of semiconductor demand.
"Purchasers of personal computers continue to reap large benefits from the steady decline in prices of semiconductors achieved through advances in technology," Scalise continued. "The average price of both desktop and laptop computer systems declined by more than 9 percent in 2006, even as the speed and functionality of these systems was enhanced by more powerful chips.
"Sales of DRAMs led the industry both in total sales and in year-on-year growth in January. With $3.6 billion in sales in January, DRAM revenues were up 72 percent year-on-year and 2.3 percent sequentially. The introduction of the Microsoft Vista operating system, which requires substantial additional memory, may have contributed to the increase in demand."
Overall, the message from the SIA is that unit demand for a wide range of consumer products remains strong and should see the semiconductor industry continue to grow in 2007, even though inventory/price concerns in certain sectors such NAND flash and microprocessors continue.
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