(iTers News) – Global semiconductor industry is now showing a faint sign of recovery, but it’s too early to turn optimistic. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, worldwide sales of semiconductor chips hit US$24.1 billion in April, 3.4% up from a month earlier -the highest month-on-month gain ever in 25 months since May 2010.
Compared with a year ago, the April chip revenue was 2.9% down, suggesting that the industry still has a way to go before it gets back on solid track. Collective sales of semiconductor chips during the past 4 months were down 5.9%, too to reach US$93.7 billion. The SIA forecasts that global chip sales would slowly trickle its way up through all of 2012 until they are up for stronger growth in 2013 and beyond .
A breakdown of growh forecast by item shows that optoelectronics and sensors will likely become two growth powerhouses, outmanuevering other chips - microcontrollers, analog chips and discrete chips.
Powered by a proliferation of motion-and voice-recognitio smart devcies that come awash with a wealth of MEMS sensors and optoelectronics chips, sales of sensors and optoelectronic chips are forecast to grow 13.6% and 2.5% year-on-year in 2012, respectively , and in 2003 gain 9.9% and 6.9%.
“The outlook for the global semiconductor industry continues to be one of cautious optimism," said Brian Toohey, president & CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "We are beginning to see an encouraging trend of modest, sequential growth and we anticipate this trend will continue during the rest of this year, with stronger growth predicted for 2013 and beyond. But that optimism continues to be tempered by macroeconomic factors." For more information, click on below
[sws_toggle1 title="Research News ">WASHINGTON /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $24.1 billion for the month of April 2012, a 3.4 percent increase from the prior month when sales were $23.3 billion.
This marks the largest month-over-month growth for the industry since May 2010. However, sales from April 2012 were 2.9 percent below the April 2011 total of $24.8 billion. Further, 2012 year-to-date sales totaled $93.7 billion, a decrease of 5.9 percent from the year-to-date figures at the same time last year ($99.5 billion). All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.
"The outlook for the global semiconductor industry continues to be one of cautious optimism," said Brian Toohey, president & CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "We are beginning to see an encouraging trend of modest, sequential growth and we anticipate this trend will continue during the rest of this year, with stronger growth predicted for 2013 and beyond. But that optimism continues to be tempered by macroeconomic factors."
On a regional basis, semiconductor sales increased in the Americas (5.6 percent), the Asia Pacific region (5.4 percent) and Europe (1.8 percent) over a three-month moving average, but fell slightly in Japan (-1.8 percent). Meanwhile, SIA today endorsed the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization's Spring 2012 global semiconductor sales forecast, which projects that the industry's worldwide sales will hit $301 billion in 2012 – a 0.4 percent increase over the 2011 sales total.
Regionally, WSTS projects year-over-year growth in the Americas (3.2 percent), Japan (1.7 percent) and the Asia Pacific region (0.1 percent) for 2012, with a slight downturn in Europe (-3.5 percent). Beyond 2012, the industry is expected to grow at a significantly faster pace across all regions, according to the WSTS forecast. WSTS predicts 7.2 percent growth globally for 2013 ($322 billion in total sales) and 4.4 percent growth for 2014 ($337 billion). WSTS tabulates its annual forecast by convening an extensive group of global semiconductor companies that provide accurate and timely indicators of semiconductor trends. [/sws_toggle1]