KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 1): Global semiconductor industry sales rose 6.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) in 2020 to US$439 billion, from US$412.3 billion a year earlier, said the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

In a statement on its website today, SIA said global sales in the month of December 2020 were US$39.2 billion, an increase of 8.3% compared to the December 2019 total and 2% less than the total in November 2020.

It said fourth-quarter sales of US$117.5 billion were 8.3% more than the total in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 3.5% higher than the total in the third quarter of 2020.

Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organisation and represent a three-month moving average.

SIA president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Neuffer said global semiconductor sales increased moderately on an annual basis in 2020, weathering a challenging macroeconomic environment brought on by the pandemic and other factors.

“While global demand for semiconductors is on the rise, the share of global chip production done in the US has declined from 37% in 1990 to 12% today, and that disparity will only intensify without US government action to level the global playing field.

“It’s imperative the federal government fully funds incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and investments in chip research so the US can benefit from growing demand and produce more semiconductors needed to strengthen our economy, national security and critical infrastructure,” he said.

The SIA said that on a regional basis, sales into the Americas market stood out, increasing annually by 19.8% in 2020.

It said China remained the largest individual market for semiconductors, with sales there totalling US$151.7 billion in 2020, an increase of 5%.

Annual sales also increased in 2020 in Asia-Pacific/all others (5.3%) and Japan (1%), but decreased in Europe (6%).

The SIA said sales in the month of December 2020 increased slightly compared to November 2020 in Asia-Pacific/all others (0.8%) and Japan (0.1%), but fell in Europe (-0.2%), the Americas (-3%) and China (-4.5%).

Several semiconductor product segments stood out in 2020.

Logic (US$117.5 billion in 2020 sales) and memory (US$117.3 billion) were the largest semiconductor categories by sales.

The SIA said annual sales of logic products increased by 10.3% compared to 2019, while sales of memory products were up 10.2%.

Within the memory category, annual sales of NAND flash products stood out, increasing 23.1% to US$49.5 billion in 2020. Sales of micro-ICs — a category that includes microprocessors — increased 4.8% to US$69.6 billion in 2020.

Sales of all non-memory products combined increased by 5.2% in 2020 and that category reached an all-time high in total sales.