AMSTERDAM — Global sales of semiconductors in October showed their strongest month-on-month growth since March 2002, on the back of strong demand for a wide range of electronics products, a monthly industry survey found on Friday.

Worldwide chip sales amounted to $15.4 billion, up 6.8 percent from September, according to data from the industry association World Semiconductor Trade Statistics.

"The October WSTS data are amplifying the positive trends observed in the already strong third quarter," said the European Semiconductor Industry Association (search), which publishes WSTS data.

"Demand for semiconductors was strong all across the board, translating into generally high billings for commodity products as well as for application specific chips," it added.

Executives of semiconductor companies have said they usually wait for recovering sales of commodity chips before they call a broad and sustainable upturn of the market. Commodity chips were still flat during the summer months.

Fueling growth in October were chips for cars and personal computers and consumer products such as televisions, DVD players and mobile phones.

Global chip sales rose 23.3 percent versus the same month in 2002. On a year-to-date basis, growth was 16.4 percent.

Demand for chips has accelerated in recent months after a slow start to the year when the deadly SARS virus put a damper on Asian trade.