Semiconductor sales increased 4.2% in February

"While seasonality clearly contributed to the 6.5% decline in worldwide chip sales month-on-month, declining unit shipments and lower average selling prices (ASPs) in several key market segments were a factor," said SIA president George Scalise. "Both unit shipments and total sales of microprocessors and DSP chips experienced sequential declines in February. Unit shipments of NAND flash increased sequentially while total sales saw a double-digit decline, indicating very competitive market conditions."

"Year-on-year, we see evidence of the fiercely competitive market conditions – across the board unit sales in key products increased, while ASPs declined. Unit sales of microprocessors were up almost 8% while ASPs declined 15%, and NAND flash units grew by over 40% while experiencing a nearly 50% drop in ASPs. These products tend to be indicators of conditions in important end markets such as personal computers and consumer devices," Scalise continued. "Personal computers and consumer products now account for approximately 60% of semiconductor sales. Both competitive conditions and product mix issues appear to be affecting revenues of these key components."