Chip sales rise 17% in Sept.

Sales increased to $14.4 billion from $12.3 billion in September 2002, the San Jose, Calif.-based Semiconductor Industry Association said in a statement on its website. The growth marked the seventh consecutive monthly gain. Sales rose 6.5 percent from August.

Companies including Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, and number two semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have said sales in the quarter were better than expected as technology companies recover from a three-year slump.

"Demand in the global semiconductor market is rising briskly," president George Scalise said in the statement.

Intel said third-quarter shipments of microprocessors set a record as sales grew in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Advanced Micro in September said sales of semiconductors were improving for flash memory, a type of chip used in cellphones and digital cameras.

Shares of both Intel and Advanced Micro have more than doubled this year. The benchmark Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained 52 percent this year.

Third-quarter revenue grew to $43.3 billion, an 18 percent improvement from the same quarter a year earlier, the trade group's statement said.

PCs, which are 30 percent of the end market for semiconductors, had a third-quarter increase of 33 percent in DRAM memory chips and a 24 percent increase in microprocessors.

Flash memory rose 27 percent and digital signal processors were up 20 percent in the third quarter. The increases were driven by cellphones, which account for 12 percent of semiconductor use, the group said.

Sales of semiconductors were strongest in Asia, rising 19 percent from the second quarter, followed by Europe, 12 percent; Japan, 11 percent; and the Americas, up 8.6 percent.