Q4-07 to show semicon growth around 2-3 percent

UK: In its December Semiconductor Monthly Update, according to Future Horizons, October’s WSTS brought continued cheer for the chip market, with IC unit sales up 13.7 percent versus September, 17.8 percent versus the same time last year.  Even taking into account the normal month-by-month quarterly IC unit shipment behaviour, these results were decidedly good news.

ASPs were down 9.4 percent versus September, 7.6 percent versus the same time in 2006, which was lower than we would have like to have seen but still nothing to get worried about.

Based on these results, we still believe Q4-07 will show around 2-3 percent growth versus Q3-07, bringing the year-end number in line with our 4-5 percent year-on-year growth forecast.  YTD growth is currently 4.9 percent, with units up 10.1 percent and ASPs down 4.8 percent.