Nov. chip sales up 3.7 percent from Oct.; up 8.5 percent from Nov. 2008: SIA

SAN JOSE, USA: Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $22.6 billion in November, a 3.7 percent increase from October when sales were $21.8 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported today.

Sales were 8.5 percent higher than November 2008 when sales were $20.9 billion. Sales for the first 11 months of 2009 were $202.1 billion, a decline of 13.2 percent from the like period of 2008 when sales were $232.7 billion. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average of global semiconductor sales.

“For the first time in 2009, worldwide semiconductor sales in November were in positive territory compared to one year ago,” said SIA President George Scalise.

“2009 ended with sales of many IT and consumer products faring better than earlier projections. Sales of personal computers continue to strengthen in line with recent projections and appear to signal the beginning of recovery of demand from the business sector. The release of the Windows 7 operating system in October has been a positive factor. Unit sales of handsets should come in roughly even with 2008 levels. In the consumer space, there have been a few bright spots including LCD TVs, which saw an increase of 25-30 percent in units in 2009.

“With a sequential increase of 3.7 percent, November was the ninth-consecutive month of increased chip sales. Sales increased sequentially in all geographic regions,” Scalise concluded.