Stefan Mileschin

The semiconductor industry increased by 1.4 percent in May, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has said.

Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $24.4 billion for this month, compared to the $24.1 billion in April, the association said.

Combined global sales for the March-April-May period was also positive, with an increase over December-January-February by the highest rate - 6.4 percent - since June 2010.

May marked the third consecutive month that sales had grown over the previous month. This, the SIA said, was the longest streak of sequential monthly growth since September 2010.

However, it wasn't all a bed of roses - with the SIA pointing out that sales from May 2012 were 3.4 percent lower than the May 2011 total of $25.2 billion. Additionally 2012 year-to-date sales were found to be lower across all regions than at this time last year.

Despite this, SIA is remaining positive, with Brian Toohey, president and CEO of the association claiming that the "upward trend of global semiconductor sales was encouraging".

He said the recent sales totals were in line with industry projections of modest growth for the remainder of 2012, however, a "sluggish global economy" continued to provide substantial headwinds, limiting more robust growth.

Regionally, semiconductor sales increased in Asia Pacific by 10.5 percent, Europe by 4.4 percent and the Americas by 1.6 percent over a three-month moving average. However it was a sad story over in Japan, which saw a decrease of -0.7 percent .

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