Record year and growth to continue, says SIA

Q4 sales were $87.4bn and December sales were $29.1bn – up 9.3 % and 16% respectively year-on-year.

“The global semiconductor industry posted its highest-ever sales in 2014, topping $335bn for the first time thanks to broad and sustained growth across nearly all regions and product categories,” says SIA CEO John Neuffer. “The industry now has achieved record sales in two consecutive years and is well-positioned for continued growth in 2015 and beyond.”

Several semiconductor product segments stood out in 2014.

Logic was the largest semiconductor category by sales, reaching $91.6bn in 2014, a 6% increase compared to 2013.

Memory ($79.2bn) and micro-ICs ($62.1bn) – a category that includes microprocessors – rounded out the top three segments in terms of sales revenue.

Memory was the fastest growing segment, increasing 18.2% in 2014. Within memory, DRAM performed particularly well, increasing by 34.7% year-on-year.

Other fast-growing product segments included power transistors, which reached $11.9bn in sales for a 16.1% annual increase, discretes ($20.2bn/10.8% increase), and analogue ($44.4bn/10.6% increase).

Annual sales increased in all four regional markets for the first time since 2010. The Americas market showed particular strength, with sales increasing by 12.7% in 2014. Sales were also up in Asia Pacific (11.4%), Europe (7.4%), and Japan (0.1%), marking the first time annual sales in Japan increased since 2010.

“The US market demonstrated particular strength in 2014, posting double-digit growth to lead all regions,” continued Neuffer, urging policy makers to help foster continued growth and promote innovation and global competitiveness.