Global sales of semiconductors in May reached 18.05 billion US dollars, up 4.1 percent from the same month a year ago, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA)reported Saturday.

But the SIA, a trade group with member companies comprising more than 85 percent of the US semiconductor industry, said the figure was a sequential decline of 0.5 percent from April.

"Attrition in DRAM prices, which saw a sequential decline of 6 percent, was the major contributing factor in a slight decline in worldwide semiconductor sales in May," said SIA President George Scalise.

DRAMs are one of the largest segments of the total semiconductor market, consequently price swings in this segment have a large impact on total chip sales.

"Unit sales of cell phones have continued to outpace earlier forecasts, contributing to growth in sales of semiconductor products such as DSPs (digital signal processors) and analog chips," Scalise said.

He said a recent report from Banc of America Securities now projects that handset shipments will grow by 18 percent to 795 million units in 2005.

At the same time, Scalise added, the semiconductor content of cell phones continues to increase with each new generation.

Source: Xinhua