Chip sales up 5.5 percent in August

Despite growing fears over the global economy, chip sales went up 5.5 percent year-over-year in August and 2.6 percent from the previous month, according to data by the Semiconductor Industry Association. The report says semiconductor chip sales totaled $170.2 billion in the first eight months of 2008, up 4.5 percent over the same period a year ago.

Chip demand was helped by sales of personal computers and cell phones, SIA said. But the group said overall growth in the industry was hurt by pricing pressure on dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, which are used in PCs, and NAND flash memory chips, which are used in portable electronics like cell phones and digital cameras.

Excluding memory products, chip sales rose 11.4 percent year over year in August, SIA said. On this basis, sales for the year thus far are up 4.5 percent over the same period in 2007 and are in line with the group's midyear forecast for 2008 growth of 4.3 percent.

However, some sources suggest chip sales fell of a cliff by late August..

Source: Yahoo News