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By Ed Frauenheim, 3 September 2003 07:35

NEWS In a sign of continued growth in the chip industry, global sales of semiconductors rose to $12.9bn in July, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. The July sales figure compared with $12.5bn in June, and marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase, the industry group said. Sales also were up 10.5 per cent from the July 2002 total of $11.68bn. SIA president George Scalise said in a statement: "July's sales reflect the continued strengthening of the semiconductor market and we believe that we will exceed our forecasted sequential growth of 5.9 per cent for the third quarter." The increase in chip sales comes amid other hopeful news for the information technology industry. IT budgets should grow two per cent in 2004, according to a survey of 500 IT executives released Tuesday by AMR Research. In August, research firm IDC said it expected IT spending would increase 26 per cent by 2007 to $1.1tr. In the chip world, PC-related products were the strongest sector in July, according to the SIA. Sales of microprocessors were up 5.6 per cent from June, while sales of dynamic random access memory devices (DRAMs) rose 8.2 per cent month-on-month. The SIA attributed the boost in PC-related products to the start of a business upgrade cycle and seasonal back-to-school PC purchases. The consumer sector, which includes DVDs and digital cameras, also remained healthy, the SIA said. Sales of optoelectronics semiconductors climbed 5.3 per cent from June, and sales of flash memory chips rose 5.7 per cent, the association said In Japan, sales rose 4.8 per cent on a monthly basis, while Asia Pacific was up 2.9 per cent, Europe up 2.3 per cent, and the Americas up one per cent, according to the SIA. Ed Frauenheim writes for News.com