Chip sales show uneven recovery
Signs of a bumpy recovery for the global semiconductor industry were evident in a report Monday that showed sales rose 56 percent in February compared to last year, but slipped 1.3 percent from January.
"There are encouraging signs that the global economic recovery will continue, and we remain cautiously optimistic that there is upside potential for growth beyond our November forecast for 2010," said SIA President George Scalise.
Sales were strongest in the Asian-Pacific region, which makes up more than half of the global chip market. Sales in this area were $12.2 billion, down 0.4 percent from January, but up 79 percent last year.
Sales in the Americas followed rose 47.8 percent to $3.6 billion, down 3.7 percent from January but up 48 percent from a year earlier.
SIA said sales of chips for personal computers and cellphones, the biggest market drivers, will grow in the low- to mid-teens in 2010.
Filed under: economics by TheDoor