SAN FRANCISCO -- The three-month rolling average of globalsemiconductor sales fell to $22.9 billion in February, down 1.3% from January,according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) trade group.
February chip sales were down 7.3% compared to February2011, according to the SIA. In the Americas region, semiconductor sales grew1.1% compared to January, SIA said.
"It's encouraging to see that the US posted the thirdconsecutive month of job gains which points to momentum in the US economicrecovery," said Brian Toohey, SIA president, in a statement."However, the global picture bears close watching given the continuedsluggish economies in Europe and in Asia."
Toohey said the combination of improved US macroeconomicfactors and the sales growth in the Americas region "warrants anoptimistic view for growth in 2012."
The monthly sales data reported by the SIA is compiled bythe World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization. The WSTS recentlyacknowledged that that both Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) stoppedparticipating in the WSTS chip sales data program. WSTS uses forecastingand estimation methods to predict the sales on Intel and AMD, as well as theother companies that do not participate in the program, including Qualcomm Inc,Broadcom Corp, Xilinx Inc, and Altera Corp.
SIA Chairman Rich Beyer, also the chairman and CEO of FreescaleSemiconductor Inc, told
EE Times lastweek that SIA was confident it could get Intel to return to the program. Someanalysts, including Bill McClean of IC Insights Inc, have suggested that WSTScould report the data differently in order to alleviate any concerns Intel andAMD may have about revealing too much information.
With a continued macroeconomic recovery, SIA expectssemiconductor sales to improve this year in part due to positive demand driversacross a range of end markets. As products with improved functionality inmobility, sensing and energy efficiency come to market to meet consumer andenterprise demand, semiconductor sales are expected to continue along the pathof long term growth, according to SIA.
This article was originally posted by EETimes.
