Friday, March 2, 2007
The three-month average of global chip sales went down to $21.65 billion in January from $21.75 billion in December, according to Bruce Diesen, an analyst with Terra Securities ASA. However, unadjusted year-on-year sales growth improved from 5.9 percent in December to 13.7 percent in January. This was helped by Chinese New Year shifting from January in 2006 to February in 2007.
Diesen said that Chinese exports of technology-based goods improved in January, after a slowdown in December. Meanwhile sales of the Sony Playstation3 have been disappointing while the Nintendo Wii has exceeded expectations. However, the Wii is less chip intensive.
"We think PC and handset chip sales rebounded from weakness in December, but expect slower sales of consumer electronics chips, especially for gaming applications," said Diesen in a note issued Wednesday (Feb. 28). The global sales statistics from World Semiconductor Trade Statisitics are expected to be published by the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association on Friday.
Although prices of DRAM memory chips have started to fall, strong bit growth and the late Chinese New Year mean that sales should still have risen in January, Diesen said.
Diesen maintained his forecast the global chip market would show annual growth of 7 percent in 2007
By: DocMemory
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