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We have some good news to report in the technology sector. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), global chip sales jumped 5% in August from the previous month, for a six month run of higher sales.
The Semiconductor Industry Association, which tracks sales, reported that gains were made in every sector. The Americas saw an increase of 5.4%, while the Asia Pacific region increased 5.3%. In terms of raw numbers, the Asia Pacific region accounts for more than half of global sales.
What is fueling this worldwide surge in demand? George Scalise, president of SIA cites demand for more energy efficient equipment, cheaper notebook personal computers, and better demand for PCs.
The chip sector is digging itself out of the worst slump in a decade. Sales are still down year on year, but there's a spark on the demand side. On a year-to-year basis sales by regions were as follows:
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Global chip sales were $19.1 billion, down 16% from a year earlier.
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Asia Pacific was down 14%.
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The Americas was down just 2.3%.
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Europe had the biggest drop of 30%.
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Japan was down 20%.
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Last year was the first year since the internet bubble burst in 2001 that sales were down year on year.
We have a bright spot to look forward to in the second half, which traditionally is the strongest part of the year. We can look forward to back-to-school sales, holiday sales, and companies spending extra cash before year end.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-04-2009 @ 7:14PM
Iridium said...
Windows 7 is coming out the third week of October. Every computer manufacturer in the world is building new machines for retail. There is your jump in chip sales. You can be sure that they are producing less machines than any other major OS launch in history. Still they are producing more computers than they were last year, due to Windows 7.
HOW CAN MAJOR ANALYSTS MISS THIS FACT???
So before you read into the headline too much and see it as a sign the tech sector is improving you should think about it. Chip sales jump during the manufacturing window to get new machines on store shelves for October, not a surprise.
Just because machines are built doesn't mean that consumers are going to buy them at retail. Any computer above $1000 is DOA. Microsoft needs OEM sales of Windows 7 to pump up the numbers. During Vista's launch we weren't in the middle of an economic disaster so the numbers for 7 will pale to the launch numbers of Vista just do to the decline in OEM sales.