iSuppli fast facts on SIA August semiconductor sales figures

EL SEGUNDO, USA: To support media coverage of the Semiconductor Industry Association’s (SIA’s) release of its August chip sales statistics, the market research firm iSuppli Corp., El Segundo, Calif. is issuing the following fast facts:

* The SIA reports global semiconductor sales grew in August compared to a month earlier. Sales also rose in July compared to June. This reveals a pattern of solid sequential growth for the first two months of the third quarter.

* iSuppli estimates worldwide chip sales for the entire third quarter expanded by 10.6 percent compared to the second quarter.

* Solid market conditions in August and throughout the third quarter were partly spurred by efforts among semiconductor suppliers to build inventory levels back to equilibrium. In the second quarter, global Days of Inventory (DOI) at semiconductor suppliers fell short of optimal levels by 6.1 percent. As a result of the inventory rebuild, global chip revenue in the third quarter is estimated to have risen by 3 percent more than actual demand would dictate, creating an artificial bump in sales for the industry.

* However, the semiconductor market remained weak on the year-over-year growth measure. Third-quarter revenue is estimated to have declined by 16 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

* iSuppli now predicts global chip sales will decline by 16.5 percent in 2009, compared to the previous publicly announced forecast of a 23 percent drop. In a forecast delivered to clients in early August, iSuppli had improved its 2009 growth forecast to a 17.6 percent decline.

* Revenue from sales of semiconductors to the consumer electronics industry is estimated to have surged by 28 percent in the third quarter compared to the second. This was the biggest increase of the largest-sized application markets for chips.

* Chip sales to the smaller automotive sector grew by an even more impressive 30.2 percent, boosted by the Cash for Clunkers program in the United States and stimulus efforts in China.