The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that the SIA has endorsed the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization’s Autumn 2011 global semiconductor sales forecast which has projected semiconductor sales to grow to USD 302 Billion for 2011, reaching the USD 300 Billion mark for the first time and representing a 1.3%t growth rate over the record-breaking year in 2010.

Worldwide sales for October 2011 remained essentially flat at USD 25.7 billion, a 0.1% decrease from prior month’s sales of USD 25.8 billion.

“The combination of record-breaking sales in 2010 coupled with this year’s forecast topping the USD 300 Billion mark for the first time is welcome news for both the semiconductor industry and the entire economy,” said Brian Toohey, president, Semiconductor Industry Association.

“Despite a challenging global economic environment this year and the natural disasters that have impacted production in Asia, the semiconductor industry has demonstrated impressive resilience. The growing level of semiconductor content embedded across a wide range of consumer, industrial, business and government applications points to continued growth in 2012 and 2013.”

For the month of October 2011, Japan continued its recovery with month-over-month growth at 2.2% marking the fourth consecutive month of growth. Additionally, year to date semiconductor shipments to the Americas region grew 4.6%, followed by shipments to Asia Pacific at 3.4% and Europe at 1.2% year-over-year.

Beyond 2011, the industry is on track to grow steadily and modestly according to the WSTS forecast. WSTS is predicting 3.7% growth for 2012 and 5.8% growth for 2013. WSTS tabulates its annual forecast by convening an extensive group of global semiconductor companies that provide accurate and timely indicators of semiconductor trends.