Thanks to moderate improvements in a number of end-demand drivers and inventory replenishment, worldwide semiconductor sales saw month-on-month increase in April, the second sequential growth in a row, a leading U.S. trade group said on Monday.
Global chip sales rose 6.4 percent from the previous month to 15.6 billion U.S. dollars, according to latest report released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), which is based in San Jose, California.
Sales of personal computers and cell phones, which account for nearly 60 percent of all semiconductor consumption, have been performing better than predicted, SIA President George Scalise said.
"Consensus forecasts currently project that PC unit sales in 2009 will decline by about 6 percent compared to earlier forecasts of a decline in the range of 12 percent," Scalise said in a statement.
"Analysts are also more optimistic about cell phone unit sales, which are now projected to decline by around 7 percent compared to earlier forecasts of 15 percent," he added.
Previous statistics by SIA showed that global chips sales climbed 3.3 percent in March over February.
"Two consecutive months of sequential sales growth may be an indication of a return to more normal seasonal sales patterns in some market sectors, albeit at lower sales levels than last year," Scalise said, noting that visibility remains limited.
According to the SIA report, global chip sales in April were 25 percent lower than the same period last year when sales were 20.9 billion dollars.