Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $23.1 billion in November 2007, an increase of 2.3 percent from November 2006 when sales were $22.5 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Sales increased by 0.7 percent from the October sales of $22.9 billion, while year-to-date sales of $231 billion are 2.8 percent ahead of the $225 billion in sales for the like period of 2006.
"Early indications are that consumer products with high semiconductor content such as LCD TVs, PMP and MP3 players, along with digital cameras all sold well in the holiday buying season," said SIA President George Scalise. "These products are all finishing the year with very healthy unit sales increases. Cell phone unit sales in 2007 will grow by over 20 percent for the fifth-consecutive year, while unit sales of personal computers will grow by more than 10 percent."
According to SIA, while unit demand has been very robust, average selling prices (ASP) have declined in a number of key product segments. Pricing pressure in the memory sector continues to impact industry sales. For instance, DRAM bit shipments increased by 25 percent in the three months leading up to mid-December but ASPs declined by 20 percent during the same time period.
As for the microprocessor segment, SIA reported that sales increased by 5.8 percent month-on-month and by 7.4 percent from November of 2006. Strong PC unit demand contributed to a 2.6 percent sequential increase in microprocessor unit shipments and a 3.2 percent increase in ASPs.
"Rising energy prices and concerns about sub-prime lending issues do not appear to have had a significant impact on consumer spending on electronic products during the holiday buying season. While total semiconductor sales continue on pace to surpass the record level of 2006, it will take very strong sales in December to meet our forecast of 3.8 percent growth in 2007," said Scalise.
