SIA Reports Chip Sales Up Slightly in January

Semiconductor sales ended on the upside in January, albeit to a very slight degree. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported that January sales posted a 0.3 percent rise over December when most industry pundits were expecting a loss.

Sales for the month of January hit $22.5 billion, up from $22.43 billion in December. When compared with January of last year, when the industry was hit with a sudden downturn, the numbers become far more impressive. January 2009 sales were just $15.28 billion, so last month's sales rose a remarkable 47.2 percent.

The global market was carried by the Asia/Pacific region, which is big enough to offset the seasonal losses in the rest of the world. Most of the tech markets take a breather post-Christmas, so a seasonal dip was expected.

Sales in the Americas were off 1.9 percent while Europe slipped 0.3 percent and Japan took the biggest drop, down 2.6 percent. APAC's 2.0 percent growth, which translated to about $224 million in sales, was enough to offset the other losses.

"Worldwide semiconductor sales in January increased significantly compared to one year ago, reflecting today's improving business environment for the industry," said SIA President George Scalise in a statement. "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."

Scalise said there is strength across a range of sectors, including personal computers, cell phones, automobiles, and industrial applications.

If the current trends continue, the overall market could exceed SIA's November forecast of $242.1 billion for 2010, but that requires a growing global economy driven by consumer purchasing, said Scalise.

When compared against January 2009, APAC grew 69.2 percent, with $12.28 billion in sales. The Americas were second in year-over-year growth with 48.2 percent growth and $3.76 billion. Europe grew 29.5 percent to $2.93 billion and Japan posted a modest 9.1 percent growth to $3.52 billion.

U.S. sales get applause

The U.S. growth was met with applause by supply chain market researcher iSuppli. "The 48.5 percent year-over-year growth in the first quarter will lay the foundation for a robust rebound in the global semiconductor business in 2010," said Dale Ford, senior vice president at iSuppli in a statement.

iSuppli believes the strongest chip segment in the first quarter of 2010 will be memory, a category that includes DRAM and NAND flash, which will see a 99.3 percent increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2009. Memory prices have been on the rise in recent months after years of dropping like a rock.

iSuppli also believes semiconductor sales to the wireless communications market will amount to $13.1 billion in the first quarter, up 53 percent from $8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009.

Andy Patrizio is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.