Worldwide sales of semiconductors totaled $20.6 billion in July, a 2.2 percent increase for the same period last year and a 3.2 percent increase since June 2007, according to a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
"Major demand drivers for semiconductors - personal computers, cell phones and other products - appear to be growing in line with analysts' projections," said SIA president George Scalise in a statement. "At this stage, it does not appear that the fallout from problems in the subprime-mortgage arena has had a significant impact on consumer purchases of electronic products, but this is a concern that bears watching," he added.
Scalise said worldwide chip sales are on track with the SIA forecast of 1.8 percent growth in 2007. Microprocessor unit sales increased nearly five percent from June, while average selling prices rose by more than three percent. NAND flash unit shipments, on the other hand, were flat compared with June but average selling prices increased more than 8 percent. Average selling prices for DRAM continued an ongoing decline, however, the drop slowed to less than a 2 percent decline in July as unit shipments grew.