The global NOR flash memory market is reversing from a state of oversupply due partly to significantly growing adoption of AMOLED panels and touch display driver ICs (TDDI) for mobile phones, and increasing demand from the automotive electronics and industrial controllers sectors. The NOR flash market is in tight supply also because major players Micron Technology and Cypress Semiconductor have quit production for the low- to medium-capacity segments.

NOR flash products were previously mainly used in feature phones, but market demand continued to shrink as a result of stagnant growth for sales of such phones and the coming of lower-capacity NAND flash memories as substitute. Slim gross profit margins also dampened the willingness of semiconductor wafer fabs to take contract production orders for NOR flash memories.

Nevertheless, NOR flash is beginning to experience a significant upturn in market demand, as AMOLED screens need NOR flash to supplement the brightness and electric current, Full HD models demand the installation of 8Mb NOR flash, and QHD models need 16Mb NOR flash, according to market observers.

Market statistics show that NOR flash still enjoy a solid presence in the world market, as annual global demand for feature phones is still estimated at a high of 300-400 million units, with consumers mainly seen in India, Africa, Southeast Asia, and even Japan.

In addition, NOR flash is also increasingly applied to automotive electronics and industrial control devices. In this regard, both Taiwan-based Macronix International and Winbond Electronics have been keen to develop, design and produce NOR flash for these two fields over the past few years, with the ratio of NOF flash products rising to 20% of their production from only 2% in 2012 as a result.

Market statistics indicate that the global sales of NOR flash products will experience a CAGR of 15% in the next few years to reach US$4.7 billion by 2020.

Despite the growing market demand, Micron and Cypress have strategically decided to quit production of medium to low-end NOR flash memories, casting variables to the world's NOR flash industry given their high global market shares, at 18% and 25%, respectively, in 2016. Micron is reportedly to focus on competing with Samsung Electronics, Toshiba and SK Hynix for a larger slice of the 3D NAND flash market.

The growingly tight supply has pushed up NOR flash prices since the beginning of the year, driving suppliers in Taiwan and China to expand production capacity. Winbond, for instance, will expand its monthly capacity for NOR flash from 44,000 to 48,000 wafers at its 12-inch wafer fab in Taichung, central Taiwan by the end of 2017, and further to 53,000 wafers by the end of 2018.

China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) reportedly has also seen sharp increases in orders from GigaDevice Semiconductor (Beijing) for NOR flash products.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved