US pain continues as chip market decline deepens
The US industry body also reports that globally the chip market has chalked up a second quarter of sequential decline. Global chip sales for the month of March 2019 were $32.28 billion down 13 percent from sales in March 2018.
As monthly data is given by the SIA as a three-month average, the March average equates to total sales for 1Q19 of $96.84 billion. In the 4Q18 the global chip market was worth $114.66 billion and in 2Q18 it was worth $124.86 billion, according to WSTS figures (see US dips in chip market’s fourth quarter flatness).
On an year-on-year basis all the regions of the world tracked by World Semiconductor Trade Statistics saw the contraction of the market increase relative to the previous month. The Americas region is hurting the most while Europe is hurting the least, mainly due to its lack of exposure to consumer electronics and its strong reliance on industrial and automotive electronics.
The Americas’ region displayed a year-on-year fall of annual fall of 26.6 percent, followed by Japan, which was down 11.1 percent. The China and Asia-Pacific regions are together responsible for nearly two-thirds of chip sales and their markets fell by 9.4 and 9.3 percent respectively. Europe’s market fell by 6.8 percent.
“Sales in March decreased on a year-to-year basis across all major regional markets and semiconductor product categories, consistent with the cyclical trend the global market has experienced recently,” said John Neuffer, CEO of the SIA, in a statement.
Three-month average of chip sales by geographic region for February and March 2019. 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 shows troughs at the beginnings of quarters and peaks at the ends of quarters.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
US hurting under global chip market’s February fall
Europe last to know about chip market downturn
US dips in chip market’s fourth quarter flatness
Chip market growth dips below 10 percent
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