
Chip market grew 9.9% in 2014
The near 10 percent annual rise came after a strong December in which the three-month average of global sales was $29.13 billion. This made December and the full year 2014 both the strongest on record. Fourth quarter global sales of $87.4 billion were 9.3 percent higher than the total of $79.9 billion from the fourth quarter of 2013.
The Americas region had a particularly strong fourth quarter – the three-month average for December is equivalent to the fourth quarter. Americas region sales were up 16.0 percent as shown in the table.
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Three-month average sales for December 2014 by region. Source: SIA, WSTS.
Monthly data is given by the SIA as a three-month average, although the WSTS organization tracks actual monthly data. The SIA and other regional semiconductor industry bodies opt to use averaged data because it evens out the actual data that typically show troughs at the beginnings of quarters and peaks at the ends of quarters.
"The industry now has achieved record sales in two consecutive years and is well-positioned for continued growth in 2015 and beyond," said John Neuffer, CEO of the SIA, in a statement.
Annual sales increased in all four regional markets for the first time since 2010. The Americas market showed particular strength, with sales increasing by 12.7 percent in 2014. Sales were also up in Asia Pacific (11.4 percent), Europe (7.4 percent), and Japan (0.1 percent), marking the first time annual sales in Japan increased since 2010.
Next: Annual sales by product segment.
By product segment Logic was the largest semiconductor category by sales, reaching $91.6 billion in 2014, a 6.6 percent increase compared to 2013. Memory ($79.2 billion) and micro-ICs ($62.1 billion) – a category that includes microprocessors – rounded out the top three segments in terms of sales revenue.
Memory was the fastest growing segment, increasing 18.2 percent in 2014. Within memory, DRAM performed particularly well, increasing by 34.7 percent year-over-year. Other fast-growing product segments included power transistors, which reached $11.9 billion in sales for a 16.1 percent annual increase, discretes ($20.2 billion/10.8 percent increase), and analog ($44.4 billion/10.6 percent increase).
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