July chip sales climb 2.2%

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Computer chip sales around the world grew 2.2 percent in July from the year-earlier period to $20.6 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said Tuesday.

"Major demand drivers for [chips] - personal computers, cell phones, and other consumer electronic products - appear to be growing in line with analysts' projections," said SIA President George Scalise.

The Asia Pacific region showed the highest year-over-year growth for July at 4.8 percent, while sales in the Americas had the largest decline, with semiconductor revenue down 6.2 percent. The industry was on track to meet its 2007 annual sales projection of 1.8 percent growth, said Scalise.

In July, shares of major chipmaker Intel (Charts, Fortune 500) rose 0.5 percent, while those of rival AMD (Charts, Fortune 500) fell 3.6 percent.