Semiconductor industry posts another month of record sales

San Jose (CA) - A successful holiday season and climbing demand for consumer electronics pushed sales for semiconductor devices to a new record level in November 2005, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), reported today.

Worldwide semiconductor sales increased by 7.2% from the $19.0 billion reported for November 2004. Sales were up 1.7% sequentially from the $20.1 billion reported for October, according to the SIA.

Among the reasons for the continued record pace of the industry were surging Flash memory sales for products such as cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players. "Sales of flash memory devices were up by 33% from November 2004," said George Scalise, president of the SIA. Sales of application-specific standard circuits, another proxy for consumer products, were up by nearly 34% year-on-year.

"The main story of 2005 is one of the growing importance of consumers in driving sales of semiconductors," Scalise said. "The growing pervasiveness of microchips in everyday products and a strong underlying economy have combined to create a very favorable climate for the microelectronics industry," he concluded.