In January, worldwide sales of semiconductors amounted to US$ 26.880 billion, the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) reported on the basis of the latest WSTS data. The results are in line with seasonal patterns – as the first months of the year are usually slower for semiconductors – and represent a 2.7% drop compared to the December sales of US$ 27.617 billion. All growth figures represent a three-month rolling average.
In January, the European market was weaker globally by 1.7% compared to December 2015. Sales reached US$ 2.721 billion compared to US$ 2.767 billion a month ago. Nevertheless, in Europe, demand remained strong for several key product categories. Discretes¸ opto-sensing and emitting chips, analog devices, logic ICs and chips designed to be used in specific applications, all experienced steady growth compared to December.
Within the application-specific domain, worldwide sales of chips designed to be used in automotive applications grew strongly compared to December.
Euro-Dollar exchange rates did not affect the European sales picture as much as in previous months. Still, some effects could be felt. Measured in Euro, semiconductor sales were 2.512 billion Euros in January 2016, down 0.6% versus the previous month and an increase of 4.0% versus the same month a year ago. On a YTD basis, semiconductor sales decreased by 0.3%.