According to the SIA, worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $23.1 billion in November, an increase of 0.7 percent from the October sales of $22.9 billion. Year-to-date sales of $231 billion are 2.8 percent ahead of the $225 billion in sales for the corresponding period of 2006. 

“Early indications are that consumer products with high semiconductor content such as LCD TVs, PMP and MP3 players, along with digital cameras all sold well in the holiday buying season,” said SIA President George Scalise.  “These products are all finishing the year with very healthy unit sales increases. Cell phone unit sales in 2007 will grow by over 20 percent for the fifth-consecutive year, while unit sales of personal computers will grow by more than 10 percent.”  

Microprocessor sales proved strong in November, growing by 5.8 percent sequentially while unit sales grew by 2.6 percent. The easing in the price war between AMD and Intel was reflected in an ASP increasing of 3.2 percent in November.
 
“While total semiconductor sales continue on pace to surpass the record level of 2006, it will take very strong sales in December to meet our forecast of 3.8 percent growth in 2007,” Scalise concluded.