vond volgend artikel bij rood forum voor wat het waard is
Consumers drove chips in May, says Scalise
A generally bullish global economy and the ups of mobile phones and digital consumer equipment outweighing the downs of the personal computer business drove chip sales in May, according to George Scalise, president of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association.
The three-month average of worldwide sales of semiconductors in May came in at $19.75 billion, up 9.4 percent over May 2005 equivalent sales of $18.05 billion, according to WSTS numbers from the SIA.
This was because electronic equipment is now so dominated by consumer applications that the ups and downs of the global economy are the biggest determinant of equipment sales and therefore of components sales. This worked to the benefit of the semiconductor industry in May, Scalise said.
"As consumer products drive an increasing proportion of microchip sales, the growth of the semiconductor industry more closely reflects overall economic growth," Scalise said in a commentary, which accompanied the numbers.
"Sales of cell phones and other consumer electronics products once again were the principal contributors to growth in semiconductor sales. Sales of analog chips grew by 21.5 percent from May of 2005, while digital signal processor sales grew by 13.7 percent," he added.
"Strong growth in sales of NOR flash memory products and optoelectronic devices are indicators of continued growth in sales of digital cameras and cell phones. Unit sales of personal computers have continued to run ahead of expectations, contributing to 13.7 percent year-on-year growth in sales of DRAMs. Sales of PC microprocessors declined by 2 percent from May of 2005, reflecting both robust competition and some inventory corrections in this major market segment. Consumers continue to benefit from this competition, as the average selling price for a notebook computer has fallen below $1,000 for the first time ever," Scalise said.
"We expect to see global semiconductor sales running 9 to 10 percent ahead of last year's pace for the next several months. End market demand, inventory levels, and capacity utilization all indicate generally favorable conditions for the industry," Scalise concluded.