SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductors grew 7.6% year-on-year in July.
Sales were up 2.8% sequentially, to $22.2 billion. Year-to-date sales are up 5%, rebuffing fears of a market recession.
SIA President George Scalise cited demand for consumer electronics, PCs and cellphones – which account for about 80% of chip demand. LCD TV units are projected to increase 32% this year, and digital set-top boxes and digital still cameras 20%, PC unit growth 13%, and cellphones over 10%, he noted.
"We are enjoying the benefits of the strong 3.3% second quarter GDP growth in the US, and continued strength in world markets."
Overall capacity utilization was 89% – with leading edge above 95%.
SIA reported that sales of DRAMs and NAND flash memory continued to decline as a result of continuing price erosion. “Total semiconductor sales excluding memory products increased by 11.6% year-on-year and by 3.2% sequentially,” said Scalise. “The memory content of typical PCs and cell phones continues to increase. According to Micron Technology, the DRAM bit content of the average PC in 2008 will increase 56%, while the NAND flash content for the average cellphone will grow by 178%," Scalise concluded.
SCHAUMBURG, IL – Marc Chason, founding partner of Quantum Solar Group, will speak at the iNEMI Sustainability Summit.
Chason will address technologies for providing lighting and energy generation that reduce energy requirements in the entire lifecycle of electronics.
The summit will be held Sept. 22-23 in Schaumburg, IL.
The Quantum Solar Group finds market niches and provides technology market data and roadmaps in the solar photovoltaic space suitable for PWB fabricators, EMS and SMT organizations and their suppliers.
TAIWAN–The North
American market experienced a larger shipment growth for flexible PCBs over
rigid PCBs, according to a recent report from IPC, and according to DigiTimes, the
trend is extending into Taiwan. Unimicron Technology and Compeq Manufacturing
are predicting sales of handset PCBs to increase, and HannStar Board showed
record July sales for notebook PCBs. HannStar expects September sales to
continue to climb. Due to the high demand for the Apple’s Smartphone and High
Tech Computer (HTC), industry insiders are predicting FPCB sales in Taiwan to
see anywhere from 15% to 50% third-quarter sequential growth.
Not everyone is seeing a climb, though. Because of
lackluster shipment volumes for notebook PCBs, Gold Circuit Electronics had to
adjust their third-quarter sales target from 20%-25% down to 10%-15%.
TAIWAN – Foxconn International’s first-half net profit was $142.2 million, down 56% year-over-year, as a result of higher operating costs, product changes and increased investment spending.
The cellphone maker reported its first-half revenue rose to $4.79 billion, up 4.4% compared to the year-ago period.
Foxconn previously predicted it gross profit margin would fall this year because of a price war, higher costs and corporate taxes.
The company is building a massive campus outside of Juarez, Mexico, that will come online in 2009.
HELSINKI – The research firm, Gartner, predicts sales growth in the mobile phone market will slow this year due to several factors including the shaky global economy, increased competition, and the weak US dollar. Manufacturers will continue to infiltrate emerging markets as a means to increase sales. Although sales in Western Europe, a major region for phone makers, are expected to be similar to last year’s level, Gartner predicts a 5% decline in global market growth over 2007 figures. In the second-quarter, 304.7 million mobile phones were sold globally with emerging markets pushing sales up 11.8% from last year. Nokia experienced the largest gains with its market share increasing to 39.5%, up from 36.7% the previous year.
HERNDON, VA – An iNEMI two-day summit will focus on the challenges of creating a more sustainable industry. The goal of this summit, scheduled for Sept. 22 and 23 in Schaumburg, IL, is to define specific actions for the electronics industry and organize programs to execute these actions.
