They may be pre-financial meltdown figures, but the latest stats for worldwide PC and semiconductor sales may provide some comfort in Silicon Valley today.
The research firm iSuppli says HP and Dell continued to increase PC unit shipments in the first half. HP had 13.4m shipments in the second quarter, up 20 per cent on a year ago, while Dell shipped 11.2m units, up 21 per cent.
The top-two PC makers were well ahead of the average industry growth of 14.5 per cent, with iSuppli predicting 12.5 per cent growth for the full year.
Meanwhile, the Semiconductor Industry Association reports worldwide chip sales grew 5.5 per cent year-on-year in August to $22.7bn, with PCs and cell phones the main drivers of demand.
Taking out the price-pressured Dram and Nand memory chip markets, industry sales were up 11.4 per cent.
George Scalise, SIA president, couldn’t help but refer to the present situation though:
“With consumer purchases now driving more than half of semiconductor sales, consumer confidence is essential to the entire supply chain of the global technology sector; thus it is essential for Congress to move swiftly to restore stability to the U.S. financial system,” he said.
