Global chip sales rose 47.2 percent in January as global economies began to show some signs of life, according to the latest report from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
The SIA said worldwide semiconductor sales in January were $22.5 billion, a significant increase over last year's figure of $15.3 billion. January sales also improved sequentially, rising 0.3 percent from December sales of $22.4 billion.
"We are currently seeing strength across a range of demand drivers for semiconductors, including personal computers, cell phones, automobiles and industrial applications," said SIA President George Scalise in a statement.
Scalise said chip sales may surpass the SIA's 2010 November forecast of $242.1 billion if current trends continue.
Predictions from iSuppli put global chip sales for 2010 at $278.7 billion, a 21.5 percent increase over last year. If the company's predictions come true, it will mark the first year of double-digit percentage revenue growth for the semiconductor industry since 2006.
iSuppli predicts that the strongest chip segment in the first quarter of 2010 will be memory, a category including DRAM and NAND flash, which will experience a 99.3 percent increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2009.
Sales of cell phones and smartphones will generate major growth in semiconductor consumption in the first quarter of 2010, according to iSuppli. Semiconductor sales to the wireless communications market will amount to $13.1 billion in the first quarter, up 53 percent from $8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009.