Electronics Industry Update
-- Semiconductor International, 8/1/2000
Worldwide Sales of Semiconductor Devices
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Manufacturers' Shipments of Computers & Peripheral
Equipment
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Manufacturers' Shipments of Electronic Components
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Manufacturers' Shipments of Communications Equipment
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Sales declines are typical between the third month of one calendar quarter and the first month of the following quarter, so an analysis of longer-term trends is necessary to accurately gauge the health of the market. From this perspective, the semiconductor market continues to look very strong indeed.
Chip sales this April had an estimated current dollar value 38.0% greater than the April 1999 total. This represented the best over-the-year growth recorded in semiconductor sales since the fall of 1995.
And unit sales volume didn't decline nearly as steeply as dollar volume over the latest month, with April unit shipments coming in a relatively modest 7.1% below the total for March. Unit sales this April were 31.6% higher than during April 1999.
Total dollar microprocessor sales volume (the best longer-term reflection of both unit and average price trends) was 13.1% greater in April than in April 1999. DRAM sales volume was 46.3% greater than last April, while the dollar value of all discrete chips sold in April 2000 was up 44.0% from a year earlier.
Through the first four months of 2000, the estimated value of overall worldwide semiconductor sales was 35.1% greater than in the first third of 1999. The value of discrete chip sales was up an impressive 38.1% through April 2000, and DRAM sales had grown by 36.4%. Growth in microprocessor sales has lagged, however, with the value of sales through April 2000 running a relatively modest 12.4% ahead of the first four months of 1999.
Data published by the U.S. Commerce Department shows the value of shipments from U.S. communications equipment manufacturers rose by a strong 3.1% between March and April of this year, following a smaller 1.3% gain the month before and a slight decline in February. At the same time, the value of new orders received by manufacturers in the industry rose by 2.7% in April, following a 5.8% increase in March but sharp declines in both January and February.
April 2000 industry shipments were valued at a level 25.4% above the April 1999 total, and the value of new orders received by communications equipment manufacturers was 29.7% greater this April than last April. Through four months of 2000, the value of both orders and shipments of communications equipment were running about 26% ahead of their respective January-April 1999 totals.
Government data also shows the dollar value of shipments
from U.S. manufacturers of computers and peripheral equipment totaled $14.41B
during April 2000, a sharp 11.1% increase from the (upwardly revised) March
level. The value of April 2000 SIC 357 shipments was a stellar 22.4% higher than
during April 1999, and the 12-month moving total was growing at an 11.3% annual
rate through the first third of this year - the best long-term growth pace
registered by the industry in the past nine months.
