February chip sales decline by 6.5 percent from January
Worldwide sales of semiconductors of $20.09 billion in February were 6.5 percent lower than January when sales were $21.48 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported. February sales increased by 4.2 percent from the $19.28 billion recorded in February 2006.
"While seasonality clearly contributed to the 6.5 percent decline in worldwide chip sales month-on-month, declining unit shipments and lower average selling prices (ASPs) in several key market segments were a factor," said SIA President George Scalise. "Both unit shipments and total sales of microprocessors and DSP chips experienced sequential declines in February. Unit shipments of NAND flash increased sequentially while total sales saw a double-digit decline, indicating very competitive market conditions."
"Year-on-year, we see evidence of the fiercely competitive market conditions – across the board unit sales in key products increased, while ASPs declined. Unit sales of microprocessors were up almost 8 percent while ASPs declined 15 percent, and NAND flash units grew by over 40 percent while experiencing a nearly 50 percent drop in ASPs. These products tend to be indicators of conditions in important end markets such as personal computers and consumer devices," Scalise continued. "Personal computers and consumer products now account for approximately 60 percent of semiconductor sales. Both competitive conditions and product mix issues appear to be affecting revenues of these key components."
SIA noted that overall capacity utilization declined from 88.9 percent in the third quarter of 2006 to 86.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Most of the decline was in foundry utilisation, which fell from 91.5 percent in the third quarter to 80.9 percent in the fourth quarter. The reduction in capacity utilisation in the fourth quarter addressed inventory builds in the semiconductor supply chain and selected end markets which are expected to show growth consistent with GDP performance in key world markets in the coming months.
"All product segments and geographic areas registered lower sales in February compared to the immediate-prior month," Scalise continued."Even with the seasonal decline, sales are running ahead of last year's record pace," Scalise concluded.
