Global Semiconductor Sales Up 32.3% Year-over-Year
Strong Corporate IT Spending Drives Growth
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2004--Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $16.28 billion in March, a sequential increase of 4.4 percent from the $15.58 billion reported in February and a 32.3 percent increase from March of 2003, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported today. Global sales grew to $48.8 billion in the first quarter of 2004 compared to $36.4 billion in the first quarter of 2003 and $48.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003. The SIA noted that the first quarter is normally a seasonally weak quarter for semiconductor sales while the fourth quarter is normally a strong quarter. Coupled with the 4.2 percent first-quarter growth in the U.S. GDP, the sequential sales growth in the first quarter is a further indication of the strength of the economic recovery that is driving demand for a broad range of semiconductor products.
"The strong sales in the first quarter are very encouraging," stated SIA President George Scalise. "Based on the strong first-quarter results, it now appears likely that growth for 2004 will exceed 20 percent. One of the leading drivers of sales growth was continued growth in corporate spending on information technology (IT) products. Corporate spending on IT software and hardware increased by 11.5 percent in the first quarter, the fourth successive quarter of strong growth and the third straight quarter of double-digit growth. The fundamentals are in place for continued robust growth in chip sales through the end of the year."
Reflecting the continuing high level of corporate spending on Information Technology, sales of microprocessors and DRAMs -- circuits that are primarily used in personal computers -- showed solid sequential growth in March of 5.3 percent and 5.9 percent respectively. March sales of programmable logic devices, widely used in networking and telecommunications applications, were up 12.9 percent from February. ASSPs (application-specific standard products) for automotive applications grew by 8.4 percent in March.
Sales were up sequentially for all geographic regions in March.
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' monthly financial calendars.
March 2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Billions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Month-to-Month Sales ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Market Last Month Current Month % Change ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Americas 2.93 3.08 4.9% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Europe 2.96 3.14 6.2% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan 3.54 3.59 1.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific 6.15 6.46 5.2% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 15.58 16.28 4.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Year-to-Year Sales ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Market Last Year Current Month % Change ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Americas 2.46 3.08 25.1% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Europe 2.53 3.14 24.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan 2.88 3.59 24.7% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific 4.43 6.46 45.8% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 12.30 16.28 32.3% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Three-Month-Moving Average Sales ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Market Oct/Nov/Dec Jan/Feb/Mar % Change ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Americas 3.03 3.08 1.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Europe 3.11 3.14 1.3% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan 3.72 3.59 -3.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific 6.18 6.46 4.6% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 16.03 16.28 1.5% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
About the SIA
The SIA is the leading voice for the semiconductor industry and has represented U.S. semiconductor companies since 1977. SIA member companies comprise more than 85 percent of the U.S. semiconductor industry. Collectively, the chip industry employs a domestic workforce of 255,000 people. More information about the SIA can be found online at www.sia-online.org.
Contacts
Semiconductor Industry Association
John Greenagel or Doug Andrey, 408-436-6600
mailbox@sia-online.org
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