Chips continue to provide cheer in an otherwise gloomy wireless environment.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, strong demand of chips in the mobile market played a significant part in worldwide sales of $12.54 billion in June as against $12.49 billion in May. Flash memory, which is embedded into mobile phones as well as digital cameras, jumped 37.1 percent compared with the same period last year.
“As predicted, the recovery is broad-based and now is beginning to draw strength from computation, the largest end market for semiconductors, as well as the global consumer and communications sectors,” said SIA President George Scalise.
Asia Pacific recorded the most activity, as it usually does, with a 5.9-percent rise. Japan and the Americas savored 5.3-percent and 3.6-percent boosts respectively.
The poor patch is Europe, where sales dipped 4.1 percent because of a soft economy and production outsourcing to Asia Pacific.
The general good news emboldened an optimistic outlook for the future. The association said it anticipates 10.1-percent growth this year, 16.8 percent growth in 2004, 5.8 percent in 2005 and 7 percent in 2006. SIA projects sales of up to $205 billion in 2006.
The flurry of activity has not ebbed as investors are keen on the sector. China-based CSMC Technologies Corp. closed a $67 million first investment round with a consortium of international investors led by 3i and Crown Investments Ltd. 3i also supported another wireless player, Amperex Technology Ltd. of Hong Kong, which makes batteries for mobile phones, personal digital assistants and notebooks.
The semiconductor market in China has grown about 30 percent annually from $2.4 billion in 1995 to $15 billion in 2002, earning it the rank of the third-largest semiconductor market in the world.
