Can't be good for the longterm...
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->By Reuters, for Reuters
Global sales of microchips in July rose 11.5 percent from a year earlier to $20.1 billion, driven higher by broad-based demand, a U.S. industry group said on Friday.
Sales in July were 1.8 percent higher than June's figure of $19.8 billion, according to figures from the Semiconductor Industry Association.
"Growth continues to be strong across a broad range of end markets and geographic regions as well," SIA President George Scalise said in a statement.
Monthly sales in the Americas rose nearly 18 percent from a year earlier, while sales to the Asia-Pacific region rose 13.4 percent. Sales in Japan increased by 8 percent, while European sales rose 4 percent, the SIA said.
The sales figures cover all manner of microchips, including computer processors made by Intel, cell phone processors from Texas Instruments and memory chips from Samsung Electronics.
Once highly dependent on the PC market, the semiconductor industry has enjoyed steady, moderate growth as chips make their way into a range of products such as mobile phones, digital-music players and televisions.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index has fallen by 5 over the past year, compared to a rise of about 7 percent in the Standard & Poor's 500 over the same period.
Originally Published on September 05 2006<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
