2009 European semiconductor sales down 5.9 per cent

The semiconductor industry is not out of the woods yet

Mixed results from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) show a fall in semiconductor sales for 2009 across Europe and Japan, with sales growth in the Americas taking the region up to a pre-2008 sales level.

There has been a drop in global semiconductor sales of 13.2 per cent for 2009 by comparison with 2008, according to figures released by the SIA.

The figures show a drop in European sales of 4.9 per cent between November 2008 and November 2009, and a drop in Japanese sales of 5.3 per cent.

Despite this, there were increases in America and Asia-Pacific of 25.9 and 12.9 per cent respectively during the same period.

Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $22.6bn (£14bn) in November, a 3.7 per cent increase from October when sales were $21.8bn, making November the ninth consecutive month to see global chip sales growth.

SIA president George Scalise said: “Growth in November appears to signal the beginning of recovery of demand from the business sector. The release of the Windows 7 operating system in October has helped. Unit sales of handsets should come in roughly even with 2008 levels. In the consumer space, there have been some positive stories including LCD TVs, which saw an increase of 25-30 per cent in units in 2009.”

However, the disparity in regional sales suggests a recovery may not be universal.