Intense competition between microprocessor vendors led to a 6.1 percent decline in sales revenue between March and April, despite decent growth in the rest of the semiconductor market.The slump dragged the worldwide semiconductor market down from March revenues of US$19.7 billion to April revenue of $19.6 billion, according to a study the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released Thursday.The revenue drop could have come because Intel and Advanced Micro Devices have been cutting prices on current chips as they roll out products.Still, the study offered hope for future growth. The market-wide April revenue figure marks an 8.1 percent increase over the same month last year. And monthly PC sales climbed 13 percent to 15 percent compared to April 2005. That jibes with a 10.2 percent increase in PC shipments by market-leader Dell, comparing the first quarter of 2005 with the first quarter of 2006. Second-place vendor Hewlett-Packard grew at 22.3 percent over the same period, according to Gartner.The overall market for semiconductors slumped because microprocessors are its largest single sector, at 14 percent, according to SIA President George Scalise. Working against that trend, strong sales of consumer electronics drove the rest of the market to strong year-over-year increases.Demand for wireless handsets sustained the market for analog electronics, digital signal processors, NOR flash and optoelectronic devices.Meanwhile, the popularity of digital music players drove NAND flash to a 25 percent increase, comparing April 2005 to April 2006. Digital music player sales grew at 50 percent year over year.-Ben Ames, IDG News ServiceCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content BrandPost Retail innovation playbook: Fast, economical transformation on Microsoft Cloud For retailers, tight integration of data and systems is the antidote to a challenging economy. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 3 mins Retail Industry Digital Transformation BrandPost How retailers are empowering business transformation with TCS and Microsoft Cloud AI-powered omnichannel integration and a strong, secure digital core lets retailers innovate across four primary areas while staying compliant, maintaining security and preventing fraud. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 4 mins Retail Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost How to Build ROI from Cloud Migration This whitepaper and webcast can help you calculate the ROI and create a business case for modernizing your legacy applications to the Microsoft Cloud. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 1 min Retail Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost How to power a sustainable enterprise on Microsoft Cloud In this eBook, we’ll follow the journey of Amal Skye, a fictitious woman who is committed to living in a way that preserves the planet for the future —and how businesses like Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft are making that possi By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 1 min Retail Industry Green IT Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe