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For the second month in a row, semiconductor manufacturers saw double-digit sales fueled by a resurgence in corporate spending, according to a report published Monday.

In its monthly update, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said worldwide chip sales rise to $16.28 billion in March. That is a 4.4 percent gain from the $15.58 billion reported in February and a 32.3 percent increase from March of 2003.

Sales figures for February 2004 were also above 30 percent, making it the second month in a row that 2004 has replaced the hardships of the previous year.

IT spending on software and hardware continued to be one of the leading drivers of sales growth. The report showed an increase of 11.5 percent in the first quarter, the fourth successive quarter of strong growth and the third straight quarter of double-digit growth.

"The good news for us in the microprocessor industry is that there is almost no excess inventory," SIA analyst Doug Andrey said during a conference call with reporters. "It turned out that PC shipments are making their biggest impact now as they make up 30 percent of sales in the semiconductor industry."

The increase in sales has prompted the San Jose, Calif.-based trade group to revise its estimates for the year.

"Based on the strong first-quarter results, it now appears likely that growth for 2004 will exceed 20 percent," SIA president George Scalise said in a statement. "The fundamentals are in place for continued robust growth in chip sales through the end of the year."

Preliminary estimates for year-end growth previously sat at 19.4 percent.

One of the biggest growth spurts was found in ASSPs (application-specific standard products) for automotive applications, which grew 8.4 percent in March. Other hot sellers included microprocessors and DRAMs. These circuits, which are primarily used in personal computers, showed growth in March of 5.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

March sales of programmable logic devices, which are widely used in networking and telecommunications applications, were also up 12.9 percent from February.

The report also showed sales were up in all parts of the globe in March. Europe reported the strongest month-over-month sales at 6.2 percent, while the Asian Pacific markets -- excluding Japan -- recorded the best year-over-year numbers with 45.8 percent in sales.

The SIA's report is based on a three-year average of sales activity. The numbers are tabulated by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, which represents approximately 66 semiconductor companies.