SIA: January Sales Rise

“If the current trends continue, there is upside potential for 2010 growth above our November forecast of $242.1 billion, but a growing global economy driven by consumer purchasing will be key to sustaining these trends,” says SIA President George Scalise.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Contributing Editor– Electronic News 3/1/2010

Reflecting the improving business environment for the worldwide semiconductor industry, the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) reported today that worldwide semiconductor sales in January rose slightly — 0.3% — to $22.5 billion, from $22.4 billion in December, but were 47.2% higher year-over-year from $15.3 billion in January 2009.

“January and February of 2009 were the low point of the industry downturn as the semiconductor industry and electronics manufacturers quickly responded to the global economic recession,” reminded SIA President George Scalise, in a statement.

He also noted that the SIA is currently seeing strength across a range of demand drivers for semiconductors, including personal computers, cell phones, automobiles, and industrial applications.

“If the current trends continue, there is upside potential for 2010 growth above our November forecast of $242.1 billion, but a growing global economy driven by consumer purchasing will be key to sustaining these trends,” Scalise added.

Commenting on the SIA’s January Global Sales Report, market research company iSuppli Corp. reminded that while worldwide semiconductor sales increased only slightly from December, sales typically decrease in Q1 following the Christmas revenue peak at the end of the previous year.

“iSuppli predicts global semiconductor revenue in 2010 will rise to $279.7 billion, up 21.5% from $230.2 billion in 2009. This will mark the first year of double-digit percentage revenue growth for the semiconductor industry since 2006. Following the 11.1% decline in revenue in 2009, the strong growth in 2010 represents a major improvement in market conditions for the global semiconductor industry. Semiconductor revenue growth this year will swing by 32.6 percentage points in the positive direction, from negative 11.1% in 2009 to positive 21.5% in 2010,” Dale Ford, senior VP at iSuppli said in a statement.

In terms of semiconductor products, iSuppli believes the strongest chip segment in Q1 will be memory, a category including DRAM and NAND flash, which will experience a 99.3% increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2009.

Further, strong revenue growth this year for DRAM will be due to the suppliers’ deft management of manufacturing capacity, which will keep inventories in check and prevent prices from eroding too precipitously, iSuppli said.

And on the NAND flash memory side, the company expects strong sales growth of smart phones will generate insatiable demand for NAND-type flash memory this year and will contribute to strained supplies for the year and help to boost pricing.

Finally, in the wireless communications area that is dominated by cell phones, iSuppli expects major growth in semiconductor consumption in Q1 with semiconductor sales to the wireless communications market amounting to $13.1 billion in Q1, up 53% from $8.6 billion in Q1 2009.