European semiconductor sales keep the pace in January

This pattern is in line with seasonal behaviour and slightly better than the market developments observed in the Americas and Japan. ICs, Sensors and optoelectronics have been rather stable, while discretes showed a positive growth. A very slight decrease was registered in the memory market. Slower sales of MOS microcontroller were reported in January. Overall, European semiconductor sales in January 2010 amounted to US$ 2.934 billion. This corresponds to an increase of 29.5% compared to the same month last year. Semiconductor sales on a YTD basis in January allow the direct comparison of a single month and indicate with its 41.9% increase the significant improvement versus January 2009. The exchange rate imbalance of the Euro compared to the US dollar has not significantly changed its impact on the European sales picture . Measured in Euro, semiconductor sales were 2.008 billion Euros in January 2010, up 0.9% on the previous month and up 16.1% versus the same month a year ago. On a YTD basis semiconductor sales increased by 32.7% in 2010 versus the same period in the year 2009. On a worldwide basis, semiconductor sales in January 2010 were US$ 22.494 billion, up 0.3% versus the previous month. This results in an increase of 47.2% versus the same month in 2009 and on an YTD basis it results in an increase of 71.9%.