
Europe improves in chip market as Covid plays out
However, the pattern is changing. The Americas region, which has been showing exceptional annual growth is seeing that growth reduce month by month. The European region – exposed to industrial and automotive applications – saw heavy annual contraction of the market initially, but this has reduced in July and August.
China, responsible for about one third of the global chip market, occupies middle ground but also perhaps a taste of things to come. It is showing single-digit percentage growth that is drifting downwards month by month.
The global three-month averaged sales data for August was $36.23 billion, up 4.9 percent year-on-year, down from 5.1 percent for June. The year-on-year growth has been steadily falling through most of 2020.
Three-month average of chip sales by geographic region for August and July 2020. Source: SIA/WSTS.
“Global semiconductor sales increased year-to-year in August for the seventh consecutive month, demonstrating the global market so far has remained largely insulated from ongoing global macroeconomic headwinds, but there is still substantial uncertainty for the months ahead,” said John Neuffer, CEO of SIA, in a statement.
Monthly data is given by the SIA as a three-month average although the source of the data, the WSTS, 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 shows troughs at the beginnings of quarters and peaks at the ends of quarters.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Global semiconductor sales rise year-to-year in July
European chip market falls as the rest of the world holds firm
Still little Covid-19 impact as April chip market stayed strong . . . except in Europe
Little sign of Covid-19 in March global chip sales data
February dip in China’s chip market shows world what’s coming
