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SMARTPHONES, ultramobile devices and solid-state drives are driving the growth of semiconductor revenue worldwide, but industrial electronics will see massive growth in 2015.
Research firm Gartner has forecasted worldwide semiconductor revenue to reach $358 billion in 2015, a 5.4 percent increase on 2014 numbers. This is a big slow-down from the 7.9 percent growth experienced in 2014.
According to Gartner, this slowdown in growth is due to increasing supplies of DRAM, which will return it to more traditional price reductions.
“DRAM pricing was unusually firm in 2014 due to short supply, which propelled DRAM to be the fastest-growing device type in 2014 with 31.7 percent revenue growth,” said Jon Erensen, research director of Gartner. “DRAM supply and demand will be in line in 2015, driving bit pricing down a more traditional 16.8 percent and reducing annual DRAM revenue growth to 7.7 percent.”
From an application point of view, smartphones, SSDs and ultramobiles will see the largest dollar increases. In 2015, compute applications will continue to be the largest market for semiconductors, followed by wireless and consumer applications.
Combined, these three device categories represent more than two-thirds of total semiconductor revenue and have the most influence on the overall strength of the semiconductor market.
However, in 2015, the industrial electronics segment is expected to have a revenue growth of 9.1 percent, outperforming overall semiconductor market growth. Most of this will be attributable to LED lighting for industrial, residential and smart city projects. The Internet of Things will also be a strong growth driver.