Worldwide semiconductor sales slow to $10.49 billion in August 2001

OCTOBER 3--Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $10.49 billion in August, a decrease of 42.0% from $18.08 billion a year ago, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA; San Jose, CA; www.semichips.org). On a month-to-month basis, August sales were 3.4% below the July 2001 level of $10.86 billion, an improvement from the 6.1% month-to-month decline reported in the previous month.

"The reduced sales level continues to reflect the slow economic activity in the world's major economies combined with excess inventories in the information-technology market. Consumption continues to deplete remaining inventories throughout the supply chain, and we believe that the inventory correction will be largely completed by the close of the September quarter," said George Scalise, SIA president. Scalise went on to say, "The tragic events of September 11 may slightly dampen sales for the month of September due to short-term logistical issues; however, we are still confident that we will see sequential quarterly growth commencing in the December quarter. We expect that traditional holiday sales of personal computers, communications products, and a variety of hand-held devices will accelerate year-end demand for a broad range of semiconductors."

Compared to August 2000, August sales in the European market were lower by 40.0%, the Americas market was down 55.3%, and Asia Pacific was down 31.7%. In the Japan market, sales declined 36.3% from last August.