Electronics Briefs

Chip sales risein August

Worldwide sales of semiconductors increased 4.9% over August 2006 as revenue totaled $21.5 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Sales of NAND flash memory devices led the growth as supplies tightened and prices firmed. NAND flash

"Normal seasonal patterns contributed to a healthy 4.5% sequential increase in worldwide semiconductor sales in August," says SIA President George Scalise. "August is historically the beginning of the holiday season build by electronics manufacturers, which in turn drives demand for a broad range of semiconductor products."

Scalise noted that analysts have revised their forecasts upward for growth in unit sales of personal computers from 11–13% for 2007. "PC unit growth is proving to be very solid in 2007," says Scalise."

SanDisk opens facility in China

SanDisk Corp. has opened its first production facility in China.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SanDisk says its facility in Shanghai will produce a flash memory-based chip package called System-in-a-Package (SiP), which is used in mobile phones.

The production capacity of the operation is expected to meet about 30% of SanDisk's SiP products projected global demand, the company says.