The worldwide sales of semiconductors reached record sales levels for August, increasing over 10 percent from previous years, according to an industry observer.

On Monday, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said that August semiconductor sales rose to $20.5 billion, up 2.1 percent from July, setting a new record in for monthly sales. The previous record of $20.4 was set in November of 2005, the group said.

Once again we saw relatively strong sales across a very broad range of semiconductor products, which reflects healthy end markets, SIA's president George Scalise stated.

The growth was partially fueled by stronger memory sales, with DRAM, commonly used in personal computers, rising over 30 percent from the same period one year ago. Stronger consumer sentiment also helped bolster electronics sales.

A sharp decline in gasoline prices appears to have boosted consumer confidence, which bodes well for an industry that is now strongly driven by sales of consumer electronic products, Scalise said. The worldwide industry now derives more than 50 percent of its sales from the consumer market.