AFTER two quarters of sluggish sales, the electronics industry in Malaysia is experiencing an increase in the orders for its products for the second half of 2007, as reflected in the worldwide rise in the sales of semiconductors in July.
Global sales of semiconductors totalled about US$20.6bil in July, a 3.2% jump from the previous month and an increase of 2.2% against the same month last year.
The US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) recently reported that despite the intense pressure that the industry experienced early in the year, worldwide chip sales were on track to achieve its forecast 1.8% growth this year.
Gartner, a US-based research house, is slightly more optimistic, forecasting global semiconductor revenue to grow 2.5% to US$269bil this year. For 2008, it projected revenue to rise 8.7% to US$293bil.
It expects the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2006 to 2011 to be around 5.1%.
Malaysian American Electronics Industry (MAEI) chairman Datuk S.H. Wong told StarBiz the growth in the second half would be driven by the increase in the sales of microprocessors, MOS logic devices, and NAND flash memory products.
