Semiconductor sales rose in May
JUNE 30--Global semiconductor sales rose 2% in May from April, helped by an increase in demand from the telecommunications sector. The US trade association for chipmakers, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA;www.sia-online.org), reported sales of electronic chips used in everything from computers to automobiles were $12.5 billion in May, compared with $12.26 billion in April.
Last month's sales were also up 9.9% from May 2002, the San Jose, CA-based trade group said. According to the SIA, sales in Asian markets had suffered from the spread of the SARS virus, which crippled retail sales of electronics, especially in China, in the spring, so the lifting of restrictions to check the epidemic should help.
"As SARS and the geopolitical issues come under control, we expect to see demand in all geographic sectors, especially China, strengthen in the second half of the year," said George Scalise, president of the SIA. Chip companies are struggling to recover from the industry's worst downturn ever, marked by a lack of corporate spending and a global economic slide that followed the greatest boom period in its history in the late 1990s.
Earlier this month, the SIA cut its 2003 sales-growth outlook nearly in half to 10.1% from the 19.8% forecast in November, citing weaker corporate spending on technology, the outbreak of SARS, and the war in Iraq.