With tremendous growth of smartphones over the past decade, foundry sales to the communications market have soared and are now forecast to account for about 3x more than IC foundry sales to the computer market in 2018, according to IC Insights.

Computers/computing systems were easily the largest application for pure-play IC foundry sales 10 years ago, but a relatively flat tablet PC market and lackluster desktop and notebook PC sales since 2011 contributed to weak pure-play foundry sales into the computer segment, IC Insights said.

IC foundry sales for computer applications are expected to surge 41% in 2018, driven by TSMC's cryptocurrency device sales, IC Insights indicated. Nevertheless, the communications foundry market will still be about 3x the size of the computer segment in 2018, IC Insights said.

The communications foundry market is forecast to display only a 2% growth rate in 2018, six points less than the total pure-play foundry market growth rate expected for this year, IC Insights noted.

New server applications targeting artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, cloud computing and cryptocurrency are forecast to breathe new life into this market segment over the next five years. TSMC, for example, expects its IC sales into the IoT segment to grow by a CAGR of more than 20% from 2017 through 2022.

Overall, the communications (52%), computer (19%), and consumer (13%) market segments are forecast to represent 84% of the pure-play IC foundry market in 2018, according to IC Insights.

By: DocMemory
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