The European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) reported that global semiconductor sales in 2020 amounted to US$ 439.082 billion, a 6.5% increase from 2019. Sales in December 2020 amounted to US$ 39.191 billion, down 1.9% versus the previous month and up 8.3% versus December 2019. In Europe, December’s sales amounted to US$ 3.370 billion, up 5.0% compared to the same month in 2019 and up 0.2% from November 2020. All figures are based on the latest World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) data and represent a three-month rolling average.
Looking at monthly developments by product category, the main drivers of December sales in Europe were MOS micro-components, Logic, sensors & actuators, and MOS memory. Global sales of application-specific chips continued to grow steadily in December across end-use segments.
Exchange rate effects were more visible compared to the previous month when comparing market growth in Euros and in Dollars. Measured in Euro, European semiconductor sales were 2.827 billion Euros in December 2020, down 0.9% versus the previous month and down 2.4% versus the same month a year ago. Measured in Euros, the market in 2020 decreased by 7.6% versus year 2019 and amounted to 32.850 billion. Overall, exchange rate effects in 2020 amounted for a growth difference of 1.7%.