Global chip sales totalled $19.66bn in January, the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said last night. The figure's seven per cent up on January 2005's $18.38bn total, but 1.5 per cent down on the $19.95bn sales recorded for December 2005, though a month-on-month decline is a traditional feature of the market at this time of year.

Indeed, the SIA said it would have expected month-on-month decline of 2.2 per cent.

Worldwide semiconductor sales for 2005 as a whole came to $227.5bn.

"Retail sales, including consumer electronics products, were relatively strong in January and helped dampen the expected seasonal decline in sales," the SIA said. "The industry entered the new year in a healthy condition. There are no excess inventories, end-market demand remains strong and capacity utilisation rates are very high. There are signs of recovery in the market for networking equipment, and reports from manufacturers of personal computers and cell phones reflect continued optimism." ®

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