Global chip sales plummeted by over 20 in February, marking the largest decline since 2009

Source: Huang Junzhi Author: Cailian News Agency

    Global semiconductor sales experienced their worst month in 14 years in February, with a year-on-year decrease of over 20%, as the industry is struggling to overcome the inventory surplus caused by the pandemic in the past two years.

    According to data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) later Thursday, global sales in February plummeted by 20.7% from $50 billion in February 2022 to $39.7 billion.

    SIA‘s historical data shows that the last time a single month‘s sales decreased so significantly was in 2009, just as the global financial crisis erupted.

    Specifically, Japan is the only region with increased sales, although only a slight increase of 1.2% to reach $3.9 billion.

    Meanwhile, China‘s sales fell 34.2% in February to $10.97 billion, but still surpassed the United States, which fell 14.8% to $9.95 billion.

    SIA CEO John Neuffer said in a statement: "Global semiconductor sales continued to slow down in February, with a sixth consecutive month of year-on-year and month on month decline. Short term market cyclicality and macroeconomic headwinds have led to a cooling of sales, but due to a series of increasing demand in the end market, the medium to long-term prospects for the market remain bright

    In the past 12 months, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen by 3.8%, while its growth so far this year has exceeded 21%; The Nasdaq Composite Index, mainly composed of technology stocks, has fallen 13% in the past 12 months, but has risen 16.38% so far this year.

    Analysts point out that the enthusiasm behind the rise of chip stocks in 2023 is largely due to the recent artificial intelligence industry led by ChatGPT, which requires a series of products with massive computing power.

    For example, Nvidia Corp. recently showcased hardware and software products focused on handling artificial intelligence workloads. The company‘s founder and CEO, Huang Renxun, predicts that revenue in the field of artificial intelligence will become "significant" in the next 12 months.

    He previously stated that generative AI has sparked a sense of urgency among global businesses towards customized AI, and the company‘s DGX supercomputer will become an AI factory. With a wave of opportunities arising from generative AI, AI is at a turning point. "We are in the ‘iPhone moment‘ of AI