SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 7 -- The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said that worldwide semiconductor sales reached $17.9 billion in December, with year-end industry sales totaling $204 billion, an industry record.
    "Driven by sales of communications solutions for data networking, broadband, wireless, optoelectronics and the continued demand for the personal computer, the year-end sales numbers released today represent a 37 percent growth rate for our industry over last year," said George Scalise, president of the SIA. "This was a very exciting year for our industry and reaching an all-time record high in sales of $204 billion is a great way to close the books for year 2000."
    December sales of $17.9 billion, a decrease of 2.1 percent from November results, were in-line with normal year-end patterns, the SIA said. Although the SIA forecast for 2001 called for a 22 percent year-over-year growth, it is unlikely the industry will achieve that projection due to the inventory overhang going into 2001, the association said.
    The industry witnessed across-the-board growth in all markets and product demand was strong in every region of the world. Flash memory, logic, analog, optoelectronics and programmable logic devices are expected to continue to be the current leaders in growth of the semiconductor market as they drive internet infrastructure and communication applications such as base stations, cellular phones, personal digital assistants and digital photography.