Global Semiconductor Sales Up 20.6% To Record $53.1B As Trade Wars Rage On

A reported hefty increase in sales is no doubt welcome news for the semiconductor industry, which still remains on precarious footing given the continued supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions, especially around US-China trade relations.

At the same time, export controls on advanced semiconductor technologies remain contentious in a sector increasingly seen by world leaders as an integral part of national security and economic competition.

Powered by a robust recovery, global semiconductor sales recorded a 20.6 percent year-on-year jump in August to $53.1 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

The Americas led the way, with sales up 43.9 percent to $15.4 billion over last year to notch up what may be the highest on record for August, the SIA said. This comes on the back of swelling demand from sectors such as AI, cloud computing, and automotive.

Over in Asia-Pacific sales grew year-on-year by 17.1 percent to $10.95 billion, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization, which compiles these stats for the SIA. China was up 19.2 percent to $13 billion and Japan grew two percent to $4 billion.

Europe was the outlier, recording a nine percent drop to $4.7 billion. No reason was given for this decline.

However, on a worldwide basis, all continents returned positive month-on-month numbers in August for the first time since October 2023, indicating that the semiconductor industry is on a path to recovery.

• TSMC, Samsung reportedly eye UAE's silicon fields for fab expansion
• Bring the hammer down on Nvidia, US progressive and antitrust orgs urge the Feds
• Upcoming US export rules on chipmaking tools won't apply to friendly countries
• China and the EU agree to consultations over EV anti-subsidy investigation

Despite the export blocks and nationalistic tussling, it's expected that the semiconductor market will continue to rebound globally due to never-ending demand in automotive, cloud computing, AI, and consumer electronics.

The positve figures, however, do not mean the future of the semiconductor makers will be without challenges. For one, supply chains remain an issue - the ongoing geopolitical tension between the US and China threatens to further complicate the effort toward global manufacture of chips. This is one of several reasons America is concentrating on upping production capacity on home soil, through the many avenues of growth that funding from the country's CHIPs Act has so far brought. China and Europe have their own initiatives.

The chip industry went through a significant downturn last year, with revenuessinking by 11 percent due to companies being overstocked with excess inventories and slowing orders due to high inflation.

For now, though, the sector seems well on its way to recovery, with August 2024 likely to prove an important inflection point along its rebound. ®