The chip industry’s Great Dark Times seem to be over.

“Worldwide semiconductor sales in January increased significantly compared to one year ago, reflecting today’s improving business environment for the industry,” SIA President George Scalise said in a statement. “January and February of 2009 were the low point of the industry downturn as the semiconductor industry and electronics manufacturers quickly responded to the global economic recession.”

Should the upward trend the SIA charted in January continue, the industry could see growth beyond its November forecast of $242.1 billion.

“2009 turned out to be a better year for the global semiconductor industry than expected,” SIA President George Scalise said in a statement. “A strong focus on inventories throughout the supply chain mitigated the impact of the worldwide economic downturn and positioned the industry for growth as the global economy recovers.”

And, indeed, Scalise says the SIA expects “healthy” growth in chip demand in 2010, with unit sales of PCs and cellphones–which account for about 60 percent of total semiconductor consumption–to grow in the low-to-midteens over the the coming year.

Forty-five percent of respondents to ChangeWave’s November survey of corporate IT spending expect their companies to spend less money or nothing at all on IT during the next 90 days.

And given the tech sector’s continued desanguination, who can blame them? If your stock’s trading at a 12- or 13-year low, you’re probably not thinking a lot about future IT purchases. “U.S. corporate IT spending is in the midst of a huge nose-dive, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before in a ChangeWave survey dating back to 2001,” said ChangeWave research director Paul Carton. “In short, the current ChangeWave survey findings virtually guarantee that we’ll be seeing the technology sector get hammered with pre-announcements before the January earnings season gets underway.”

Wonderful. Something to look forward to.

One last point worth noting here: According to ChangeWave, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is now the No. 2 smartphone in enterprise. And while RIM’s (RIMM) BlackBerry continues to be the focus of planned corporate smartphone purchases, the iPhone is gaining traction. Twenty-two percent of future enterprise smartphone buyers say they plan to iPhones; 78 percent say they plan to buy BlackBerrys.

Forty-five percent of respondents to ChangeWave’s November survey of corporate IT spending expect their companies to spend less money or nothing at all on IT during the next 90 days.

And given the tech sector’s continued desanguination, who can blame them? If your stock’s trading at a 12- or 13-year low, you’re probably not thinking a lot about future IT purchases. “U.S. corporate IT spending is in the midst of a huge nose-dive, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before in a ChangeWave survey dating back to 2001,” said ChangeWave research director Paul Carton. “In short, the current ChangeWave survey findings virtually guarantee that we’ll be seeing the technology sector get hammered with pre-announcements before the January earnings season gets underway.”

Wonderful. Something to look forward to.

One last point worth noting here: According to ChangeWave, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is now the No. 2 smartphone in enterprise. And while RIM’s (RIMM) BlackBerry continues to be the focus of planned corporate smartphone purchases, the iPhone is gaining traction. Twenty-two percent of future enterprise smartphone buyers say they plan to iPhones; 78 percent say they plan to buy BlackBerrys.