Sales of chips soared 18% in March to bring worldwide semiconductor revenue to $30.9 billion, according to an industry trade group. Sales, which jumped from $26.2 billion in the year-earlier period and gained 1.6% over the $30.4 billion recorded in February, were driven by demand for memory chips, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. China recorded the strongest year-over-year growth at 26.7%, followed by the Americas at 21.9% and Asia Pacific at 11.9%. Chips power many popular consumer technology devices, including smartphones, wearables, driverless cars and mixed-reality experiences. Two of the biggest winners have been Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -3.66% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -2.87% , whose shares have gained 200% and nearly 300% in the past 12 months, respectively. Over that time, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.46% has climbed just 4.5%.