Supply Chain Management: Surge in U.S. chip sales confirms forecast

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported today that worldwide sales of semiconductors in May were $24.7 billion, a sequential increase of 4.5 percent from April when sales were $23.6 billion and a year-on-year increase of 47.6 percent from May 2009 when sales were $16.7 billion. As expected, the year-on-year growth rate declined slightly from the 50.4 percent reported in April. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.

“Global sales of semiconductors in May reached a new high and remain on pace to reach the SIA forecast of 28.4 percent growth to $290.5 billion in 2010,” said SIA President George Scalise.  “Chip sales have been buoyed by strength in sales of personal computers, cell phones, corporate information technology, industrial applications, and autos. Unit sales of personal computers are now expected to grow by 20 percent this year and cell phone unit sales are predicted to be up 10 to 12 percent over 2009 levels.

“Emerging markets, including China and India, are fueling sales of computation and communications products,” Scalise continued. “The automotive market is also slowly recovering after several years of weak sales. Demand from the corporate information technology and industrial sectors that had pushed out replacement cycles during the global economic recession is beginning to come back.”

SIA once again noted that the industry year-on-year and sequential growth rates are likely to continue to slow during the second half of 2010. “Recent chip sales have shown robust demand, but the year-on-year growth rates also underscore the very depressed market conditions of the first half of 2009. Going forward, the year-on-year growth comparisons will reflect the industry recovery that gained momentum in the second half of last year.

“Growing concerns about issues such as government debt, declining consumer confidence, and pressures on government spending do not appear to have affected worldwide semiconductor sales to date, but given the semiconductor industry’s growing sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions, these issues bear watching in the second half of 2010,” Scalise concluded.