Global semiconductors sale up 9% in May

PETALING JAYA: Worldwide sales of semiconductors grew by 8.8% in May to US$26.86bil from a year ago driven by healthy growth across all regions led by the Americas, said Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Year-over-year and month-over-month sales increased across all regions for the first time since August 2010 with sales in May this year also 2% higher from the preceding month.

Sales in the Americas increased 10.6% year-on-year in May, marking the region’s 12th consecutive month of double-digit growth.

“The global semiconductor market posted healthy growth throughout all regions in May, led by continued strength in the Americas.

“Year-over-year sales increased across nearly all semiconductor product categories, with DRAM and analog products leading the way.

“Overall, the global market has posted growth each month for over a year, and sales are expected to increase for the foreseeable future,” Brian Toohey, president and CEO of SIA said in statement yesterday.

Compared with May last year, sales increased in the Americas was up by 10.6%, Europe grew by 10.1%, Asia Pacific by 8.6%, and Japan by 5.3%.

Japan posted three straight months of year-to-year growth for the first time in nearly two years. Sequential monthly sales were up 2.1% in Asia Pacific, 2.1% in Europe, 1.8% in the Americas, and 1.6% in Japan.

All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organisation and represent a three-month moving average.

Going forward, the total semiconductor equipment market is projected to grow by a healthy 20.8% to reach US$38.4bil in 2014 according to SEMI, the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries.

SEMI is also looking at another 10.8% growth next year for the industry and that all regions of the world are projected to see equipment spending increases in 2015.

Following two years of spending declines, key drivers for equipment spending are investments by foundry and logic fabs for sub 20nm technology, NAND flash makers for leading edge technology (including 3D NAND) and capacity, DRAM technology upgrades for mobile applications, and expansion of advanced packaging capacity for flip chip, wafer bumping, and wafer-level packaging.

The forecast indicated that next year was on track to be the second largest spending year ever, surpassed only by $47.7 billion spent in 2000. “Mobility and interconnectivity require leading-edge process technologies, both at the fab level and in packaging, and are key factors for growth in equipment spending. We expect capital spending to increase throughout the remainder of 2014 and into 2015,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.

In 2014, year-over-year increases are expected to be largest for China (47.3%), North America (35.7%), South Korea (33%), and Europe (29.7%).