Industry chip association says sales levelling out

Trade association the Semiconductor Industry Association said that its worldwide figures for February show the market is levelling out. According to the SIA, that represents a growth of 3.3 per cent compared to February last year. Said Doug Audrey, the SIA director of finance: "This month's numbers show signs of continued industry growth that we expect will remain steady throughout the year." The Asia Pacific region showed a surge of 10.3 sales growth compared to February last year, the US market was unchanged, while the European and Japanese markets showed a slight increase of 1.9 and 2.8 per cent respectively. However, the SIA's projections may be a little optimistic. A Dataquest survey of the semiconductor market, released last week, showed that many chip firms have to do much to regain lost sales. ®