Global semiconductor
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
sales jump 18.9 per cent in 1999
sales jumped 18.9 percent last year over 1998 to a record 149 billion dollars, the Semiconductor
Industry Association reported, citing
a robust turnaround in Japan and the Asia Pacific region.
Sales in December came to 14.7 billion dollars, the SIA said, adding that sales worldwide should increase 20 percent this year and next in light of expected growth in the cellular telephone and Internet markets.
“We witnessed across the board growth in all markets and product demand was strong in all regions of the world,” said SIA president George Scalise.
“Sales were extremely strong for flash memory, chipsets and DRAM (dynamic random access memory) due to demand for Internet infrastructure, e-commerce and wired and wireless communications.”
Cellular phone sales are projected to grow from more than 200 million units in 1999 to more than a billion by 2003. Sales
of devices connected to the Internet, such as personal computers and information appliances, are expected to increase from some 200 million units in 1999 to more than 700 million in 2003.
Electronic commerce will contribute to both trends, growing from 50 billion dollars
in 1998 to 1.3 trillion in 2003, according to the association.
“We saw a strong rebound in 1999 in the Asia Pacific market and Japan is finally showing signs of recovery from an eight-year recession,” Scalise said.
In 1999, the Japan and Asia Pacific markets, grew 26.7 per cent and 28.9 per cent respectively from last year. Japan is the third largest regional market, accounting for 22 per cent of the world’s semiconductors sales.
Asia Pacific, recovering from the economic crisis of 1997, will resume its role as the fastest growing market for semiconductors, and is now the world’s second largest market, with 25 per cent of sales, according to the SIA.
The largest single market by region is North and South America, representing 30 per cent of all semiconductor consumption. Sales there grew by 14.6 per cent last year.
Europe’s sales increased 8.4 per cent in 1999, driven in large part by deregulation in telecom markets. Europe’s market accounts for 21 per cent of world chip sales.
The growth of the Internet is directly related to semiconductor sales
Big business ... semiconductors