NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) - The Semiconductor Industry Association on Wednesday raised its global sales growth forecast for microchips through 2007, citing stronger-than-expected demand.
In its biannual forecast, the SIA said it expected sales of chips, also known as semiconductors, to rise 9.8 percent in 2006 to $249.6 billion, followed by an 11 percent increase in 2007.
The SIA said last November that it had expected sales to growth of 7.9 percent to $245.5 billion this year, followed by an increase of 10.5 percent in 2007.
"Stronger than anticipated end-market demand, mainly in consumer product sectors, caused us to raise our forecast for semiconductor industry growth for 2006," SIA President George Scalise said in a statement.
For 2008, the SIA said it saw global microchip sales increasing 12 percent, compared with the November forecast of 13.9 percent growth.
The SIA forecast 4 percent growth for 2009.
Hundreds of companies compete for a slice of the industry that makes the microprocessors that drive personal computers, the memory chips in digital music players and power management circuits for mobile telephones.
Major players include No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research), South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), the biggest producer of memory chips, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's top contract chipmaker.
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