Stefan Mileschin

Chip sales were likely to have dropped worldwide during June, with analysts claiming that t growth is expected to stay flat for 2012.

According to Canegie analyst Bruce Diesen, sales of chip sales are unlikely to rise this year, though 2013 should see better growth with a predicted seven percent growth.

This contrasts with the more optimistic outlook for the semi industry given by Future Horizons last week.

June chip sales were up against May slightly on a three month average, which saw an increase $24.55 billion in June, from $24.4 billion. However when this is seasonally adjusted the monthly change amounts to a slight drop Diesen says.

The bleak outlook is in part being brought about by the slow sales of PCs. According to Diesen, recent profit warnings in the PC and handset sector are not likely to show up in the chip shipments until the third quarter of this year.

In China exports of high tech goods were up to record levels, though PC production was down six percent year on year, reaching 27 million shipments.

Part of the reason could be the continued drop in PC imports from western countries such as the US, where PC shipments remained weak during May.

http://news.techeye.net/chips/2012-c...s-to-stay-flat