SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 1 -- Worldwide semiconductor sales improved nearly 20 percent in November over last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said Monday. Global semiconductor sales reached $12.68 billion in November 2002, a 1.3 percent sequential increase from the $12.51 billion in revenue reported in October 2002, continuing the trend that began in the fourth quarter 2001. November sales are up 19.6 percent from November 2001 sales of $10.60 billion. "The November sales of the global chip industry underscore the healthy recovery that has been building momentum throughout this year," said SIA President George Scalise. "The wireless sector continues to be the strongest single market." The semiconductor products that benefit from the strength of the wireless sector are led by flash and digital signal processors, which were up 6.6 percent and 3.7 percent in November. In addition, Wi-Fi has begun to contribute to the strength of this market. Furthermore, the computer segment continues to show growth with microprocessors up 0.5 percent and DRAM’s increasing by 5.8 percent, the SIA said. Chip sales rose 5.8 percent in November in the European market and 1.3 percent in Asia Pacific. Semiconductor sales in the Americas declined slightly by 0.8 percent and 0.6 percent in Japan. For more information, visit: www.sia-online.org