Europe the only region with growth
Europe was the only region in the world to report semi sales growth between January and February.
European semiconductor sales were up 1.4% in February compared to January, says WSTS.
Overall, European semiconductor sales in February 2013 amounted to US$ 2.681 billion. On a year-to-date basis semiconductor sales increased by 2.0% versus the same period in the year 2012.
February growth in Europe was driven by increased sales in the discrete, optoelectronics, total analog, total logic, MOS microcontroller and total MOS memory product categories.
Looking at sales of application specific chips, both analog circuits and MOS special purpose logic devices designed for specific applications saw higher sales compared to the previous month.
In February, exchange rate effects became smaller when comparing market growth in Euros and in Dollars. Measured in Euro, semiconductor sales were 2.023 billion Euros in February 2013, flat versus the previous month and down 2.7% versus the same month a year ago.
On a worldwide basis, semiconductor sales in February 2013 were $23.253 billion, down 3.8% versus the previous month. This represents an increase of 1.4% versus the same month in 2012.
Courtesy of:David Manners
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/articles/08/04/2013/55895/europe-the-only-region-with-growth.htm