For all of the second quarter of 2004, revenue also saw a jump of 40 percent from the same period a year earlier, to US$53.45 billion, according to research from the San Jose, Calif.-based SIA. The sequential increases were less dramatic: From May to June, sales rose 2.8 percent, and from the first quarter of 2004 to the second, they rose 9.5 percent.
Sales are booming thanks to a surge witnessed in the dynamic RAM (DRAM), wireless communications and optoelectronics sectors in recent months.
DRAM sales racked up year-on-year growth of more than 100 percent in the second quarter, and sales to the wireless communications industry grew by 86.5 percent in the first half of 2004. A spurt in demand for digital cameras and cell phones with picture capability helped the optoelectronics segment to register an increase in revenue of 52 percent, compared with the same quarter last year.
However, growth rates during the second half of 2004 will be slower, SIA President George Scalise said in a statement. In the third quarter, the semiconductor industry is expected to see sequential growth of just 4 percent to 6 percent.
Scalise predicted that worldwide microchip sales will hit a record US$214 billion in 2004.
Regionally, the Asia-Pacific market led the show with year-on-year growth of 61 percent, followed by the Americas at 30 percent, Europe at 29 percent and Japan at 26 percent.
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