SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Semiconductor sales totaled $22.7 billion in August, up 5.5 percent from $21.5 billion in August 2007 and up 2.4 percent from $22.2 billion July, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Thursday.
The industry group said that sales for the year through the end of August totaled $170.2 billion -- up 4.5 percent over the first eight months of 2007.
Chip demand was helped by sales of personal computers and cell phones, SIA said. The group also noted that ongoing pricing pressure on dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, which are used in PCs, and NAND flash memory chips, which are used in portable electronics like cell phones and digital cameras, hurt overall growth in the semiconductor industry.
When excluding memory products, chip sales rose 11.4 percent year over year in August, SIA said. On this basis, sales for the year thus far are up 4.5 percent over the same period in 2007 and are in line with the group's midyear forecast for 2008 growth of 4.3 percent, the group said.