LONDON — The three-month moving average of global chip sales in April was $15.64 billion, up 6.4 percent on that achieved the previous month, and the second straight monthly improvement, according to the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA).

Year-on-year sales came in at 25.1 percent down on the corresponding month of 2008, representing an improvement of just under 4 percent on the previous month's figures, which are complied by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization(WSTS).

On a year-to-date basis, the figure of $15.64 billion represents a decline of 26.5 percent, compared to the 29.8 percent fall recorded in March 2009.

"It seems that worldwide semiconductor sales may have hit the bottom," suggests the ESIA (Brussels, Belgium).

Of the four geographic areas tracked by the WSTS, Europe was the only one in negative territory for month-on-month growth, at sales of $2.168 billion, down 0.9 percent when expressed in US dollars.

The Americas region, at $2.598 billion, was up 0.5 percent, Japan, at $2.588 billion showed a 2.4 percent increase, with the Asia-Pacific region showing the fastest improvement, at $8.283 billion having increased by 11.9 percent.

When expressed as year-on-year sales, all four regions are still showing significant declines for April, Europe down 35 percent (compared with 34.7 percent the previous month); the Americas down 21.6 percent (22.2 percent in March); Japan down 39 percent (compared with the 40.1 percent recorded for the previous month); and Asia Pacific down 17 percent, a major improvement on the 26.3 percent decline in March 2009.

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