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Netbooks drive growth in semiconductor sales
By siliconindia
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Monday, 05 October 2009, 19:39 IST
Bangalore: The growth in chip sales is mainly driven by the growing netbook market and the fall in laptop prices, reveals a new study. Global semiconductor sales grew by five percent from July to August as consumers bought more laptops, especially netbooks, said the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in a study.
Consumers are drawn to the lower prices of netbooks, which account for close to 17 percent of total laptop unit shipments worldwide, SIA said. "Growing sales of netbook personal computers have created an important new market segment, filling a gap between 'smart cell phones' and conventional laptop PCs," said George Scalise, President of SIA.
Laptop prices have fallen by close to 14 percent compared to last year and the memory used in these devices has increased 25 percent, SIA said. That has contributed to growing chip sales, which totaled $19.1 billion in August, reports PC World.
Semiconductor sales also rose in July compared to June, said iSuppli, a market research firm. The August sales growth points to a slow recovery from the steepest downturn the industry has faced in close to a decade. Semiconductor sales grew across all major regions, with the Americas recording 5.4 percent growth and sales in Asia-Pacific growing by 5.3 percent.
