Total sales rose to US$20.1 billion in September from US$19.1 billion in August, the San Jose, California-based association said in a Business Wire statement Monday.

“Semiconductor sales in the third quarter were above expectations,” said George Scalise, president of the association. “Unit sales of personal computers and cell phones — the two largest demand drivers for semiconductors — continue to run ahead of earlier forecasts.”

Last month, chipmakers Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. predicted fourth-quarter sales that topped analysts' estimates, indicating that demand is recovering. Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest computer-memory maker, said Oct. 28 it expects a shortage of dynamic random access memory and NAND chips next year.

In June, the SIA forecast worldwide chip sales would fall 21 percent this year and predicted a rebound in 2010. On Oct. 2, researcher ISuppli Corp. said global chip sales would drop 16.5 percent this year.