Growing dominance by Asia. - The growing influence of Asia in the electronics sector was confirmed in 2007 and the domination of this continent should increase still more during coming years, according to the latest SEMI association statistics. Last year, three countries alone - Taiwan, Japan and South Korea - represented over 60% of the $41 billion devoted by microchip producers to the purchase of production and testing equipment. Up for the sixth year in a row, the global semi-conductor market enjoyed only a slight increase last year (+3.2%) to $255.6 billion, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics stresses, but should pick up this year with expected growth of 7.7%. Of these $255.6 billion, the Asia-Pacific represents 123.5 billion (+6%), Japan 48.8 billion (/5.2%), America 42.3 billion (-5.7%) and EUROPE 41 billion (+2.7%). With three actors in the “top 10” worldwide (STMicroelectronics, NXP and Infineon), Europe only accounts for 16% of global semiconductor sales. Asia, on the other hand, now represents 48% of global microchip sales.