The Semiconductor Industry Association data showed a 4.1 percent increase from the prior month.

SIA president George Scalise said the year is shaping up as strong as economic activity strengthens.

"Continued strong overall economic growth in the United States and China helped propel chip sales upward," he said. "The fundamentals are in place for strong growth through the remainder of the year, and it is likely that growth for 2004 will significantly surpass last fall's forecast of 19 percent growth."

Strong sales of cell phones were a major contributor, with digital signal processor sales up 6.8 percent. Personal computer sales growth along with increasing memory helped spark a 10.3 percent rise in sales of dynamic random-access memories (DRAMs).

Sales of image-sensing devices grew 7.6 percent sequentially on strong sales of digital still cameras and camera phones, the SIA said.

All regions showed growth, but the Asia-Pacific area was the strongest with a 52 percent rise from a year ago and 6.6 percent growth from a month earlier.

In the Americas, the rise was 30.4 percent year-over-year and 3.7 percent for the month, while European sales were up 26.4 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively and Japanese sales were up 26.9 percent and 1.6 percent.

SPACE.WIRE