Chip sales worldwide in January were much higher than the same month a year before, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said this week.
Sales in January were up 17.5 percent over the year before and down only half a percent from December, a much smaller than usual fall-off from the end of year, SIA said.
"The modest sales decline of one-half of one percent in January is an encouraging sign," said George Scalise, president of the trade association. "January is historically one of the weakest months of the year."
January's sales of US$18.4 billion, said Scalise, cut into high inventories that had slowed industry growth in the second half of 2004.
"The excess inventories have been largely depleted," he said.
"In some market segments, inventories are now below targets. We're confident inventory issues will not be a significant factor in sales beyond the first quarter [of 2005]."
As expected, factory utilisation continued to decline, the SIA said in its quarterly report.
Overall, chip factories ran at 86 percent of capacity in the fourth quarter of 2004, with the newest fabrication plants running at 93 percent.
-1.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
