After Record Year, Global Chip Sales Are Still Climbing

Last year, companies that manufacture semiconductors — the chips that go in our computers, phones and electronic gadgetry — recorded their best year ever, posting $336 billion in sales. And if the first two months of 2015 are any indicator, they’re on track to do it again.

Today the Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group, reported that February chip sales reached $27.8 billion, amounting to an increase of nearly 7 percent over the same period a year ago.

On a regional basis, that growth was led by a 17 percent boost to customers in the Americas region. Sales in the Asia Pacific region also rose by nearly 8 percent. Sales declined in Europe year on year by 2 percent and by nearly 9 percent in Japan.

Memory chips — specifically, a type known as DRAM, which is widely used in computers, phones, tablets and servers — led sales, as did analog chips, also widely used in phones and consumer electronics.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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