Semiconductor Semigrowth
Market research firm IDC adjusted its global semiconductor market sales growth estimate for this year upward to 5 percent. The market is estimated to reach US$352 billion in size at the end of this year, thanks to the rapid growth of the automotive and industrial semiconductor segments.
In the meantime, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) released indices related to the current status of the market on Sept. 14. According to it, American companies have boosted their shipments in the automotive semiconductor sector this year, while the demand for sensor semiconductors and those for use in advanced driver assistance systems are showing a rapid increase.
The automotive semiconductor segment is expected to record an average annual growth rate of 11 percent until 2019. This sector, which posted sales of approximately US$26 billion last year, is likely to amount to US$29 billion this year, US$32 billion in 2016, and US$44 billion in 2019.
Meanwhile, the PC semiconductor market, which recorded US$110 billion in sales in 2014, is predicted to remain stagnant from next year. IDC explained that this market would be exceeded in size by wireless and mobile from 2017. The mobile semiconductor sector is forecast to show 3 percent annual growth for years, after it totaled US$10 billion last year.
The memory semiconductor market is likely to remain stagnant until 2019, too. IDC said that the DRAM sales growth rate would remain at 0 percent until that year, while NAND flash grows by 3 percent based on the commercial use of more solid state drives and 3D NAND flash memory.