KUCHING: Global semiconductor sales in January 2015 kicked off on a positive note with monthly sales amounting to US$28.5 billion which is a new record high for the month.
This was an increase of 8.7 per cent year on year from January 2014 sales of US$26.3 billion, noted researchers at MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research).
Growth decelerated to less than nine per cent for the first time since May 2014, but the research firm said this is seasonal as growth tends to dip in the first two months of the year.
“Global monthly sales have now increased on a year-on-year basis for 21 consecutive months since May 2013,” it added in a research report on the matter.
“The sales numbers are also in-line with the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics’ (WSTS) 2015 monthly average sales of US$28.7 million.”
To recap, WSTS expects full year 2015 sales to reach US$344.5 billion.
Sales from the Americas and Asia Pacific regions grew by 16.4 per cent y-o-y and 10.7 per cent y-o-y to US$6.5 billion and US$16.5 billion respectively, it observed.
“On aggregate, both regions made up 80.5 per cent of total GSS for the month of January 2015.
“On the contrary, sales from Europe and Japan shrank by 0.2 per cent y-o-y and 0.8 per cent y-o-y to US$2.9 billion and US$2.6 billion respectively.”
In the meantime, the North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a BTB ratio of 1.03 for the month of January 2015 from 0.99 recorded in December 2014.
The positive BTB ratio was mainly attributable to the slower billings for the month of January 2015, it said.
“The bottomline is that expenditure on semiconductor equipment is still rising, reflecting healthy capital expenditure in the industry,” it added.
“Semiconductor equipment bookings came in a US$1.31 billion for the month of January 2015, in-line with 2014 monthly average bookings of US$1.31 billion. This translates into a growth of 2.6 per cent y-o-y as compared to bookings of US$1.28 billion recorded in January 2014.
However, on a monthly sequential basis, bookings fell by 4.9 per cent month on month (m-o-m) from US$1.38 billion in December 2014.
Billings still growing on a year-on-year basis, increasing 3.5 per cent y-o-y to US$1.27 billion.
This was slightly lower than 2014 monthly average billings of US$1.29 billion. On a monthly sequential basis, billings decreased by 8.6 per cent m-o-m from December 2014 level of US$1.39 billion Optimism intact.
In the foreseeable term, MIDF Research believes the adoption of smartphones remains one of the key driving catalysts for the sector.
The transition of 2G to 3G and 4G will inevitably create stronger demand of low to mid-priced smartphones, it said, especially in emerging markets.
“Thus, affordability of these smartphones also serves as a vital success factor. In the longer term, the availability and acceptance of wearable devices are expected to contribute to the positive sentiments for the semiconductor industry.”