World Sales Of Semiconductors Rise In May

By Agence France-Presse Global semiconductor sales reached $12.5 billion in May 2003, a 9.9% hike over 12 months, an industry association said. The May figure was 2% higher than in April, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), San Jose, Calif., said in a statement. The surge in growth over the year corresponds with annual growth forecasts of 10.1%, the SIA said. Association President George Scalise noted increased demand in China and other regions for the second half of the year, with the impact from the Iraq war now over the worst, and the SARS epidemic in check. Sales of chips to the telecoms industry rose 8.6% in May 2003 over May 2002, raising hopes of a rebound in spending in the sector. Sales of flash memory chips were up 4.4%, but spending on DRAM memory was down 2.5%. On a regional basis, sales in Japan rose 26% compared with May 2002 and 11.7% in the Asia-Pacific region. In Europe, sales rose 9.3%. In the Americas, however, sales were lower by 6.7%, and the trend among businesses was to relocate production of electronic products into Asia. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003