News Article
Semiconductor revenues drop slightly in May
Worldwide sales of semiconductors declined slightly in May to US$18.05 billion, a fall of 0.5% from the $18.14 billion reported in April, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
Worldwide sales of semiconductors declined slightly in May to US$18.05 billion, a fall of 0.5% from the $18.14 billion reported in April, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
However, May sales were up 4.1% compared with the US$17.34 billion of revenues achieved in the same period last year.
SIA president George Scalise blamed the fall in sales on intense competition in the DRAM sector. "Attrition in DRAM prices, which saw a sequential decline of 6%, was the major contributing factor in a slight decline in worldwide semiconductor sales in May," he said.
"DRAMs are one of the largest segments of the total semiconductor market. Consequently price swings in this segment have a large impact on total chip sales."
There are some encouraging sights from other segments - in particular the mobile phone market.
"Unit sales of cell phones have continued to outpace earlier forecasts, contributing to growth in sales of semiconductor products such as DSPs (digital signal processors) and analogue chips," said Scalise.
A recent Banc of America Securities report projects that handset shipments will grow by 18% to 795 million units in 2005. At the same time, the semiconductor content of cell phones continues to increase with each new generation."
However, May sales were up 4.1% compared with the US$17.34 billion of revenues achieved in the same period last year.
SIA president George Scalise blamed the fall in sales on intense competition in the DRAM sector. "Attrition in DRAM prices, which saw a sequential decline of 6%, was the major contributing factor in a slight decline in worldwide semiconductor sales in May," he said.
"DRAMs are one of the largest segments of the total semiconductor market. Consequently price swings in this segment have a large impact on total chip sales."
There are some encouraging sights from other segments - in particular the mobile phone market.
"Unit sales of cell phones have continued to outpace earlier forecasts, contributing to growth in sales of semiconductor products such as DSPs (digital signal processors) and analogue chips," said Scalise.
A recent Banc of America Securities report projects that handset shipments will grow by 18% to 795 million units in 2005. At the same time, the semiconductor content of cell phones continues to increase with each new generation."
