Worldwide chip sales at $20 billion for January

Worldwide sales of semiconductors fell to $20 billion in January, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Sales decreased 2% from about $20.5 billion in December 2001. SIA said the decline was seasonal and to be expected, with January being typically sluggish after strong Christmas sales of personal computers and consumer electronics.

"For the past decade, with the exception of the year 2000, sales have been slightly lower in January because of the semiconductor industry's historical seasonality," said George Scalise, SIA president, in a statement. "We expect to see the industry record slow growth for the first quarter of 2002, with sales rising to double-digit growth in the second half of the year."

Sales remained essentially flat in the Americas market for January from December, falling only 0.1%, according to the SIA. Europe and Japan saw declines of 3% and 5% respectively. The world's largest market, the Asia Pacific region, was the only area to see sales increase in January, growing 0.4% over the previous month.