In the most recent figures released by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization, January 2014 was the best ever January on record, clocking in with sales figures hitting over US $26 billion worldwide. This follows the banner year of 2013, in which annual sales reached an all-time high of more than $305 billion. This marks a 35 percent increase over the depths of the post-recession slump in 2009, when global sales declined to $226.3 billion. “We expect the industry to maintain this momentum for the foreseeable future,” says Brian Toohey, president and CEO of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association.
Stephen Cass is the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum. He currently helms Spectrum's Hands On column, and is also responsible for interactive projects such as the Top Programming Languages app. He has a bachelor's degree in experimental physics from Trinity College Dublin.