The Semiconductor Industry Association has said that worldwide sales of semiconductors fell 3.2% MoM in February, to $26 billion. The result was 6.2% lower than February 2015 ($27.7 billion). Sales into the Americas fell sharply (19.3% YoY), while sales into China rose slightly (3.2%).
Johhn Neuffer, president and CEO and the SIA, said that sales slipped due to “normal seasonal trends, demand softening, and unfavourable macroeconomic conditions”.
Sales have fallen in most regional markets. China was down MoM (4.6%) but up YoY (as above). Europe (-0.9% MoM/-6.3% YoY), Japan (-0.8%/-3.5%), APAC/All Other (-0.7%/-6.3%) and the Americas (-7%/-19.3%) were all down on both a monthly and annual basis.
All major semiconductor product categories fell, aside from microprocessors; these rose 3.4% YoY.
| Semiconductor Sales by Region, February 2016 ($ Billions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Market | Feb-16 | Feb-15 | YoY Change |
| Americas | 5.03 | 6.23 | -19.3% |
| Europe | 2.70 | 2.88 | -6.3% |
| Japan | 2.46 | 2.55 | -3.5% |
| China | 8.03 | 7.76 | 3.5% |
| APACxJ/Other | 7.80 | 8.32 | -6.3% |
| Total | 26.02 | 27.74 | -6.2% |
| Source: SIA | |||
Gartner followed the SIA’s release with its own data, covering 2015 as a whole. According to the firm, worldwide revenue reached $334.8 billion last year (down 2.3% YoY). The combined revenue of the top 25 semiconductor makers (73.5% share) only fell 0.5%, however, while the rest of the market declined 6.9%.
Slowing demand for key applications, and strong currency fluctuations, kept the market subdued in 2015, said Gartner VP Andrew Norwood. Unlike 2014, when all device categories posted growth, 2015 was marked by differing performance. Non-optical sensors performed the highest, due to their increase use in smartphone fingerprint sensors, while discretes fell sharply due to weak demand and currency issues.
Intel led the semiconductor market for the 24th year, with a 15.4% revenue share, although this was down 1.2%. Samsung (11.3%), SK Hynix (4.9%), Qualcomm (4.8%) and Micron (4.1%) made up the rest of the top five. Infineon, which rose from 12th place to 9th, experienced the strongest revenue growth (19.6%).
