The SIA’s July 3 release of May global chip shipments sounded quite optimistic with May’05/May’04 sales up 9.4%.growth appears to have accelerated in the current silicon business cycle with all geographies enjoying an expansion. However looking at the actual monthly (not 3-month average) data T it is obvious that SE Asia remains the growth driver.

SEMI CAPEX benefited from strong first quarter chip demand as spending for semiconductor fab, assembly and test equipment reached +7% growth on a 3-month (3/12) basis. My guess is that chip equipment CAPEX will cool mid year and then resume growth in 2007.