Semis flat, but should improve - The Antenna

Electronic News, April 1, 2002

IF YOU LIKE STABILITY -- IN OTHER WORDS, FLAT SALES--YOU should love the latest semiconductor numbers. And business is predicted to improve later this year. February's worldwide chip sales totaled $10.01 billion, flat with January's sales, according to the latest figures released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Sales in the Asia/Pacific region and the Americas led the way in February, while sales fell in both Europe and Japan, the San Jose-based industry association said. While sales remained essentially flat month-over-month, this was in line with expectations at the SIA, which is looking for the industry to start picking up in the second half of 2002.

"Strong consumer spending for mobile phones, DVDs and digital cameras continued to move chip sales slightly upward," according to George Scalise, SIA president. "Although business investment has yet to pick up, consumer confidence and inventory replenishing continue to rise, driving the early stages of the overall recovery. Flat to slow growth of semiconductor sales in the first quarter of this year is in line with expectations. Our forecast calls for the second quarter to be slightly stronger with accelerating growth in the second half of 2002."

Sequentially, sales in the Americas and Asia/Pacific market accounted for about 60 percent of semiconductor sales worldwide, with increases of 2 percent and 0.3 percent in February. Markets in Europe and Japan registered a slight dip in February, with sales down 1.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

"In February, total sales in the DRAM market rose almost 24 percent over January as prices continued to recover from cyclical lows, a trend that was reflected in all regional sales figures," Scalise said.