In 2018, analysts predict a new spiral of growth and record revenue in the integrated circuit (IC) market for use in cars.
According to the estimates of the research company IC Insights, this year the sales of automobile chips will increase by 18.5% and reach 32.3 billion US dollars. If the forecast comes true, the volume of the market in money will beat last year’s record of 27.2 billion dollars, when sales of IS-solutions for cars increased by 19.4%. In addition, for the segment this will be the third consecutive year of double-digit growth.
Analysis of the dynamics of the automotive chip market shows that over the past four years he has experienced both ups and downs. For example, after more than 11 percent increase in 2014, sales for the next year decreased by 2.5 percent. However, as early as 2016, revenue not only recovered, but also increased by 10.6%. As explained by experts, the decline in 2015 was associated with a decrease in the average selling price in several categories of IS-solutions for cars, such as microcontrollers, analog ICs, DRAM and Flash-memory, as well as general and specialized integrated circuits.
According to the updated estimate of IC Insights, from 2017 to 2021 the sales of automotive chips will grow by an average of 12.5%, and by the end of the period will reach 43.6 billion dollars. This is the best dynamics among the six categories of integrated circuits (industrial, consumer, military, computer and communication). Also, the indicator will surpass the average growth rates for the IP market as a whole, with an expected rise of 6.1%.
At the same time, the share of the automobile category remains rather modest. In 2018 this segment will provide only 7.5% of the revenue from the global sales of integrated circuits, and by 2021 the contribution of automotive chips should increase to 9.3%.
This year, the largest revenue – about 45% of the total revenue in the category – will bring analog ICs for cars, including universal and specialized IP. Another 23% will be provided by microprocessor controllers (MCUs).
As for the suppliers of automotive IP, analysts have noted a reduction in their number in recent years due to a number of acquisitions. Among the significant transactions for the industry, experts called the purchase of NXP by American chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor for almost $ 12 billion. Currently, NXP itself in the process of absorption by Qualcomm. In addition, in March 2017, Analog Devices bought the company Linear Technology, and Renesas Electronics swallowed the chip developer Intersil.
Source: www.dailycomm.ru
