Worldwide semi sales up slightly in Q1

"Through the first quarter of 2013, the global semiconductor industry has seen modest but consistent growth compared to last year," said the organisation's president and ceo Brian Toohey. "Sales have increased across most end product categories, with memory showing the strongest growth." With recent indications that companies could be set to replenish inventories, Toohey said the organisation was hopeful that growth would continue in the months ahead. Regionally, year over year sales increased moderately in Asia Pacific (6.9%) and Europe (0.7%), but decreased slightly in the Americas (-1.5 %) and sharply in Japan (-18%), reflecting in part the devaluation of the Japanese yen. Sales in Europe increased by 5.7% compared to the previous month, the region's largest sequential monthly increase since March 2010. Sales also increased from the previous month in Asia Pacific (1.7%), but fell in Japan (-1.6%) and the Americas (-1.9%).