SAN FRANCISCO: Global semiconductor sales rose 6.5 percent overall in 2020 due to a recovery during the last three months of the year.
Pandemic stay-home orders rolled out around the world helped offset a sharp drop off in March and April.
Global sales were US$439 billion in 2020, according to trade group the Semiconductor Industry Association.
The group said sales from US chipmakers were about $208 billion, or about 47 percent of the total.
Chip sales into the US were $94.15 billion, up 19.8 percent from the previous year.
American tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google all saw dramatic rises in the use of cloud computing during 2020 as businesses adapted to working from home.
US-based companies represented nearly half of semiconductor sales but represented only about 12 percent of chip manufacturing capacity in 2020. That is down from 37 percent in 1990, as most US companies now source their chips from factories in Asia.
