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June 2008 semiconductor sales reached $21.6 billion, compared to $21.8 billion in May, a 5.5 percent decline. Asia Pacific and its host of ‘developing countries’ is continuing to prop-up semiconductor sales, especially with the double-digit growth in sales of PC’s and mobile phones in the region, noted SIA President George Scalise in reporting June 2008, IC sales figures. June sales of $21.6 billion were up by 8 percent from the $20 billion reported for June 2007 and grew 5.4 percent over the first half of 2007 to reach $127.5 billion.

”Emerging markets are a major factor in driving worldwide semiconductor sales,” commented Scalise. “PC unit sales in emerging markets are expected to grow by 19 percent – more than double the growth rate in developed markets this year.  In 2008, developing countries – with sales of over 153 million units - will account for half of worldwide PC sales.  In mobile phones developing countries are expected to account for 66 percent of total worldwide unit sales of over 1.3 billion, up from 61 percent last year.  The emergence of large middle-class populations in China, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America has more than offset the effects of slower growth in the U.S. economy. We expect that demand for consumer electronic products in these new markets will continue to outpace growth in developed markets for the next several years.”

SIA noted when memory products were taken out the equation, June sales would have grown grew by 12 percent year-on-year.

“Advances in semiconductor technology continue to deliver huge benefits to consumers, as semiconductor devices deliver higher performance and increased functionality at lower cost,” said Scalise. “At the same time, rapid price declines for microchips tend to mask the real growth of the industry. The cost of 1 gigabit of DRAM has declined by 43 percent during the past year, while the price of 2 gigabits of NAND flash has declined by 61 percent in the last 12 months.  Lower prices enable increased memory content in consumer devices. Micron estimates that the memory content of the average PC will increase at least 50 percent this year, while the memory content in the average cell phone will increase by more than 150 percent.”