2009 off 21.3%; April shows strength

On June 5th, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released its annual mid-year forecast projecting worldwide sales of $195.6 billion for 2009, a decline of 21.3% from sales of $248.6 billion in 2008. SIA projects that sales will begin to rebound in 2010, with year-on-year growth of 6.5 percent to $208.3 billion, followed by 6.5 percent growth in 2011 to $221.9 billion.

On June 1st, SIA announced worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $15.6 billion in April, an increase of 6.4 % from March when sales were $14.7 billion. April sales were 25% lower than April 2008, when sales were $20.9 billion.
 
SIA president George Scalise had some interesting comments:

“The better-than-expected 6.4% sequential increase in April sales was driven by moderate improvements in a number of end-demand drivers and inventory replenishment.

“The PC market — a major consumer of semiconductors — has been stronger than predicted earlier in the year. Consensus forecasts currently project that PC unit sales in 2009 will decline by about 6% compared to earlier forecasts of a decline in the range of 12%. Projections for cell phone unit sales also improved, which are now projected to decline by around 7% compared to earlier forecasts of 15%. PCs and cell phones account for nearly 60 percent of all semiconductor consumption.”
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