April Semiconductor Sales up 8.1 Percent from 2005

by Semiconductor Industry Association

WIRELESS HANDSETS DRIVE STRONG ANALOG PRODUCT SALES

Worldwide sales of semiconductors of $19.6 billion in April were 8.1 percent higher than in April of 2005 when global sales were $18.1 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported today. SIA reported a nominal decline of 0.4 percent from March, when total sales were $19.7 billon.

“More intense competition led to a sequential decline of 6.1 percent in sales of microprocessors, offsetting modest growth in the rest of the microchip market,” said SIA President George Scalise. “Microprocessors are the largest single sector of the market, representing approximately 14 percent of total chip sales. Microprocessor sales are up nominally compared to April of 2005. The PC market remains strong, with unit sales of personal computers running 13 to 15 percent ahead of last year’s levels. DRAM sales grew by 3.7 percent sequentially and by 7.7 percent over April of 2005 – evidence that the end market remains strong,” Scalise said.

“Sales of wireless handsets containing analog products, digital signal processors (DSPs), NOR flash, and optoelectronic devices continued to show healthy growth. Total analog sales were up by 23 percent year-on-year, while DSPs grew by 16.1 percent from 2005 levels. NAND flash devices, which are widely used in portable electronic devices such as MP3 players, declined by 11.7 percent from March, but were up by nearly 25 percent year-on-year. Growing sales of medical electronics and industrial electronics, such as process control devices, are also contributing to strong growth of analog products. Sales of MP3 players continue to grow at a very robust rate of 50 percent per year. Application-specific devices for both automotive and wired communications applications showed double-digit year-on-year sales increases.

“The overall market growth rate continues to run slightly ahead of the SIA forecast issued last November, which projected growth of 7.9 percent. SIA will issue an updated forecast on June 7,” Scalise concluded.

The SIA Global Sales Report

The SIA’s Global Sales Report (GSR) is a three-month moving average of sales activity. The GSR is tabulated by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, which represents approximately 66 companies. The moving average is a mathematical smoothing technique that mitigates variations due to companies’ financial calendars.

About the SIA

The SIA is the leading voice for the semiconductor industry and has represented U.S semiconductor companies since 1977 and SIA member companies comprise more than 85% of the U.S. semiconductor industry. Collectively, the chip industry employs a domestic workforce of 225,000 people. More information about the SIA can be found at www.sia-online.org.