Total semiconductor sales in the third quarter were $85.2 billion

Total semiconductor sales in the global market for the third quarter of 2015 reached $85.2 billion.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) trade group stated that this figure represents a 3% decrease compared to the same quarter of 2014.

Chip sales in September also fell 3% year-over-year to $28.4 billion. According to a report by SIA, September sales figures rose 2% compared to August. Total chip sales for the third quarter increased by approximately 2% compared to the second quarter.

The decline in performance in the third quarter and September compared to the same period of the previous year is an extension of the downward trend in chip sales performance in the second half of 2015 due to weakening demand and the depreciation trend of the currency. Thus, September became the month in which chip sales recorded a decline for three consecutive months compared to the same period of the previous year.

Some experts predicted that while chip sales increased by 4% compared to last year when viewed from the middle of 2015, they would show a downward trend when looking at the entire year.
Last October, market research firm Gartner lowered its existing forecast for chip sales in 2015, predicting a decline of nearly 1% compared to last year.

Ross Seymore, a semiconductor industry research analyst at Deutsche Bank, stated in a research report that strength in the microcontroller, analog, and discrete chip sectors is only partially offsetting the sluggish sales performance of memory and microprocessors.

Meanwhile, SIA said that chip sales in the U.S., China, Europe, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific region increased in September compared to August.