Soaring Data Usage Fuels Memory Chip Demand

Global NAND flash and DRAM sales are expected to increase 19 percent and 12 percent this year, respectively.

Market research firm IC Insights said in its recent report that NAND flash, automotive-special purpose logic and DRAM would be the three fastest-growing integrated circuit market segments of this year. According to the report, global NAND flash and DRAM sales are expected to increase 19 percent and 12 percent this year, respectively.

At present, memory chips account for 30 percent of the global semiconductor market. According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), the global memory chip market shrunk by 33 percent to US$105.9 billion last year, causing the entire semiconductor market to shrink by 13 percent.

IC Insights reported that 26 out of the 33 integrated circuit market segments including memory chip would show an increase in size this year. For reference, the number stood at six in the case of last year. This year, the automotive-special purpose logic, display drive chip and embedded MPU segments’ growth rates are estimated at 13 percent, 10 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

“Although global economic uncertainties are still lingering, soaring data usage in the current era of Industry 4.0 will lead to a solid growth in memory chip demand in the long term,” said an industry expert.

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