Emerging markets fuel first half chip sales; Memory prices crater

Global chip sales were up 5.4 percent in the first half of 2008 to $127.5 billion courtesy of solid demand in the U.S. and emerging markets, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Developing economies in China, India, Europe and Latin America are offsetting any weakness in the U.S. For instance, developing countries a forecast to account for 66 percent of the 1.3 billion total handset units globally. That's a lot of chips.

Other nuggets from the SIA:

• The cost of 1 GB DRAM has fallen 43 percent in the last year and 2 GB of NAND flash has fallen 61 percent.
• Total semiconductor sales in June--excluding memory products--were up 12 percent compared to a year ago. Including memory products and price attrition sales fell 6 percent in June.
• Inventory is in balance.

Here's the breakdown from the SIA: