Worldwide sales of semiconductors increased in July, growing to $20.6 billion, an increase of 2.2 percent over July 2006 and an increase of 3.2 percent from June of this year, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported. In July 2006 global microchip sales were $20.1 billion, and in June 2007 total sales amounted to $20 billion. Growth was mainly attributable to increases in sales of microprocessors, MOS logic devices, and NAND flash memory products.

“Prices climbed slightly in several large segments of the semiconductor market, and price erosion in the memory sector slowed significantly in July as unit shipments grew, contributing to a sequential increase in worldwide chip sales,” said SIA President George Scalise. “Unit sales of microprocessors grew by nearly 5 percent from June while average selling prices (ASPs) increased by a bit more than 3 percent. While ASPs for DRAMs continued to decline, price attrition slowed to less than 2 percent from June. NAND flash unit shipments were essentially flat with the prior month, but ASPs were up by more than 8 percent and total revenues from NAND flash products grew by nearly 8 percent from June.

“Major demand drivers for semiconductors – personal computers, cell phones, and other consumer electronic products – appear to be growing in line with analysts’ projections,” Scalise continued. “At this stage, it does not appear that the fall-out from problems in the sub-prime mortgage arena has had a significant impact on consumer purchases of electronic products. This is a concern that bears watching going forward.

“Despite the severe competitive pressures that the industry experienced early in the year, worldwide chip sales are on track with the SIA forecast of 1.8 percent growth in 2007,” Scalise concluded.