July chip sales up 7.6% YoY

Worldwide sales of semico-nductors grew by 7.6 percent to $22.2 billion in

July from July 2007 sales of $20.6 billion. Sales grew by 2.8 percent from June

when sales were $21.6 billion. Year-to-date sales through July were $148.3

billion, an increase of five percent from the same period of 2007 when sales

were $141.3 billion.

"Growing sales of consumer electronics, personal computers and cell phones,

which account for about 80 percent of chip demand, contributed to a healthy 7.6

percent year-on-year increase in worldwide microchip sales," said George Scalise,

President, SIA. "LCD TV units are projected to increase 32 percent this year,

and digital set top boxes and digital still cameras will both be up around 20

percent. Taking into account PC unit growth of about 13 percent and cell phone

growth of over 10 percent, we are enjoying the benefits of the strong 3.3

percent second quarter GDP growth in the US, and continued strength in world

markets," Scalise continued.

"For the second quarter of this year we've seen a significant crossover,

300mm for the first time accounts for the largest share of wafer manufacturing

capacity and actual wafers processed, with 44 percent of total capacity and 47

percent of total silicon processed," Scalise noted. "Overall capacity

utilization remains high at 89 percent, with leading edge above 95 percent,"

said Scalise.

SIA reported that sales of DRAMs and NAND flash memory continued to decline

as a result of continuing price erosion. "Total semiconductor sales excluding

memory products increased by 11.6 percent YoY and by 3.2 percent sequentially,"

said Scalise. "The memory content of typical PCs and cell phones continues to

increase. According to Micron Technology, the DRAM bit content of the average PC

in 2008 will increase by 56 percent, while the NAND flash content for the

average cell phone will grow by 178 percent," Scalise concluded.