In May, the global chip market recorded its twenty-second consecutive month of year-on-year growth with a three-month average sales figure of $38.72 billion.
The Americas region continues to show strongest growth with three-month averaged sales figures for May up 31.6 percent on the equivalent averaged figure for May 2017.
The year-on-year growth rate in China and Japan strengthened to 28.5 and 14.7 percent respectively. The year-on-year growth rate in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan and China and Europe softened to 8.7 and 18.7 percent, respectively.
Three-month average of sales for May and April 2018. Source: SIA/WSTS.
"The global semiconductor market has posted consistent growth of greater than 20 percent for 14 consecutive months, and May 2018 marked the industry’s highest-ever monthly sales," said John Neuffer, CEO of the SIA, in a statement. "The Americas led the way once again, with sales increasing by more than 30 percent compared to last year, and sales were up across all major semiconductor product categories on both a year-to-year and month-to-month basis."
Monthly data is given by the SIA and other bodies as a three-month average, with the exception of year-to-date figures, although the WSTS organization tracks actual monthly data. The SIA and other regional semiconductor industry bodies opt to use averaged data because it evens out the actual data that typically shows troughs at the beginnings of quarters and peaks at the ends of quarters.
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