Worldwide March semiconductor sales 14.4 bln usd, down 4.5 pct yr-on-yr - SIA

SAN JOSE, Calif (AFX) - Worldwide sales of semiconductors in March reached 14.40 bln usd, down 4.5 pct from 15.07 bln a year earlier, and down 7.0 pct from 15.48 bln in February, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).	    "Since last November, we have witnessed worldwide semiconductor sales continually decline due to an inventory overhang and macroeconomic factors," SIA president George Scalise said. 	    "We continue to believe that the industry will complete the inventory correction in the third quarter and the recovery will commence in the fourth quarter," he said.	    The three-month-moving average of semiconductor sales fell 19.5 pct to 14.40 bln usd from 17.89 in the previous three months.	    Year-on-year, European market sales were 0.7 pct lower, market sales in the Americas fell 10.6 pct and by 10.4 pct in Asia Pacific. Japan market sales grew by 7 pct from a year earlier, the SIA said.	    From its beginning in the 1950s, the semiconductor industry has been charact erized by a four-year cycle, sporadically modified by unexpected economic factors, the SIA said, adding that the semiconductor industry has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 17 pct over the past 40 years.

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