Tuesday, February 14, 2012
With numerous changes from 2011, some 27 IC product areas out of 33 defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization will see market growth in 2012, according to market research firm IC Insights Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
However, of those 27 growth markets only 11 will grow faster than the overall market, which the firm sees as growing by 7 percent in 2011. But of those 11 high-growth markets 6 segments will achieve double-digit percentage annual growth.
In 2011 only 15 product sectors achieved any growth and 18 chip markets shrank.
Notably the market for NAND flash memory tops the rankings with expected growth of 15 percent while the NOR flash memory market is bottom of the ranking with an annual decline of 14 percent. NAND Flash has been a top growing market segment over the past few years due to the growth of consumer-driven mobile media devices – particularly smartphones and tablet PCs. In 2012, NAND Flash will also benefit from growing demand for solid-state drives.
2012 forecast of IC market growth by segment. Source: IC Insights
The DRAM market will continue to shrink in 2012, by 3 percent against 24 percent contraction in 2011, but as a result NAND flash memory is expecting to be a larger market than DRAM for the first time in 2012.
The range of growth figures is expected to be reduced in 2012 from 2011.
One of the strongest growth markets of 2011, wired telecom applications-specific analog will grow by just 8 percent in 2012 compared with 34 percent annual growth in 2011. At the same time wireless Telecom logic and processors, which includes application processors used in smartphones and tablet computers and 32-bit MCUs are forecast to lead all product segments with 15 percent growth in 2012.
Other better than market average growth is expected to be experienced by microprocessors, display drivers, 32- and 16-bit microcontrollers, PLDs and automotive logic and analog.
Four memory categories and six segments in total – NOR flash, SRAM, EEPROM, DSP, Gate Array, and DRAM are forecast to experience their second consecutive year of market contraction in 2012.
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