SIA:1 month global chip sales growth of 17.5%

Yesky March 3rd news Reuters reported, the U.S. semiconductor industry association (SIA) said on Thursday that the January global sales of microchips strong growth of 17.5% over the same period last year, slightly better than expected, compared with December down some.

SIA said the results were encouraging. January is usually a month of mini chip sales, as the holiday season is just over.

January global micro chip sales totaled $18 billion 300 million, compared with a slight decline of 0.5% in December. Analysts attributed the rise in demand for high priced consumer electronics such as digital cameras and music players such as iPod.

"Some regional stocks have an impact," said Leming, an analyst at Soleil securities. "The sales data are better than expected," said Paul."

He said that the data is expected to promote the rise of semiconductor stocks. The stocks have been low since September last year, the cumulative rose about 25%. Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 1% on Thursday to close at 434.42.

Oscar Laiz, President of SIA, said: "in the second half of 2004, the growth of the semiconductor industry has been part of the excess inventory has been partially digested." Market research firm iSuppli recently released data show that the presence of excess reserves at the end of last year has dropped to $1 billion 600 million from $1 billion in the third quarter.

He also said: "in some areas of the product, inventory has fallen below the target level. Therefore, we can be very confident that, after the first quarter, inventory will no longer be a major problem affecting semiconductor sales."

Analyst Leming said that the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and flash memory performance of these two chips is particularly prominent. This is mainly due to the decline in shipments are mostly concentrated in low-end products. The average price of a microprocessor unit for a personal computer (PC) is $100-120, while the more outdated analog chip (Analog) units are priced at around 30 cents.

SIA said chip manufacturers' capacity utilization is expected to continue to decline in the second half of 2004. The fourth quarter of the overall capacity of the plant utilization reached 86%, the utilization rate of advanced products capacity of 93%.

2004 semiconductor industry capital expenditures increased to about $47 billion, roughly equivalent to the total sales of 22%.