Worldwide October semiconductor sales declined by 2.4 percent in October to US$22.5 billion compared to sales of US$23.0 billion in October 2007, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). October sales were 2.1 percent lower than the US$23.0 billion in September 2008. The SIA noted that if memory products were excluded from the figures, sales would have seen a 3.8 percent rise in October, 2008 compared to the same month last year.
“The slowdown in worldwide semiconductor sales that became evident in September continued in October,” said SIA President George Scalise. “The worldwide financial turmoil is expected to continue to impact demand for semiconductors as we enter 2009. For 2009 PC unit shipments are forecast to decline by 5 percent and cell phone unit shipments are projected to be down by 9 percent. PCs and cell phones account for approximately 60 percent of total demand for semiconductors.”
Sales for the first ten months of 2008 were $216 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent from the first ten months of 2007 when sales were $210 billion.
DRAM sales in October were 14 percent lower than in 2007, while NAND flash sales declined 41 percent. DRAM 1 Gigabit equivalent units increased 73 percent while sales of 2 Gigabit equivalent NAND units grew 123 percent, SIA said.
All regions except the Americas experienced sales declines in October, compared to September. On a Year-to-Year basis, only Asia-Pacific has shown an increase in sales for 2008. Americas has shown the largest decline in sales at 16.9%, currently.