European semiconductor sales reach $2.873bn

This sets the European semiconductor market essentially at the same levels of the previous month, however, there were some remarkable areas of strength in May, with increased demand in key applications. This resulted in strong growth in several important product categories in May over April. In particular, sales of discrete semiconductor devices were up 3.7% from April, diodes up 5% and optoelectronics up 6.7%.

In addition, if measured in Euros, the European market showed very strong growth compared to the same month one year ago, while decreasing substantially when measured in Dollars. This illustrates the effect exchange rates dynamics can have on the European sales picture, when comparing market growth in Euros and in Dollars. Measured in Euro, semiconductor sales were €2.631bn in May 2015, down 0.1% versus the previous month and an increase of 16.4% over April May 2015

Looking at worldwide sales of application specific chips, semiconductor devices designed to be used in automotive, consumer and wireless and wired communication applications performed particularly well, with substantial increase in sales compared to April. On a worldwide basis, semiconductor sales in May 2015 were $28.201bn, up 2.1% versus the April, and up 5.1% versus the 2014.