CPU sales rise in November. Slightly

THE Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released worldwide figures for chip sales in November 2006.

The results were mixed, depending on which neck of the sprawling semiconductor forest you examine.

Microprocessor sales were up 4.3 per cent sequentially, DRAMs up 6.8 per cent, DSPs up 12.3 per cent.

But sales of chips used in consumer devices showed the strongest growth - with the SIA saying sales of digicam chips were up 30 per cent compared to November 2005. The SIA said the 11 months of 2006 represented sales of $225.1 billion worldwide.

The year to year November sales for the regions the SIA break out, look like this, in $billions.

Region	Last year	This year	% change
Americas	3.73	3.97	6.5%
Europe	3.53	3.68	4.3%
Japan	3.77	4.25	13%
Asia Pacific	9.38	10.79	15%
Total	20.41	22.70	11.3%

Analysing the figures, Bruce Diesen of Terra.no, said shipments of DSPs to Japan rose sharply in November, a figure that includes IBM Cell processors for Playstation 3. Consumer logic, including Nvidia's graphics chip and Toshiba's synthesiser to Japan rose sharply, adding 1.5% to worldwide sales in November.

DRAM rose steeply in November, while NAND showed signs of continued weakness. Diesen thinks PC CPU chip sales were stronger than expected, with good shipments in Europe, and with average selling prices rising from $75 to $90.

Wireless and opto chips slowed in November. Diesen reckons Dell made more PCs in China and fewer in Malaysia in a bid to cut costs. µ