Global 3D IC market rising
According to a new market report, "3D ICs (MEMS and sensors, RF SiP, Optoelectronics and imaging, Memories, Logic, HB LED) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2013 - 2019," published by Transparency Market Research.
The market growth is expected to be driven by increased demand for devices with exceptional speed, low power consumption, smaller chip size, and reduced response time. Information and communication technology (ICT) and consumer electronics are seen as emerging sectors for adoption of 3D ICs and are expected to support the market growth during the forecast period 2013 to 2019.
Globally, the 3D ICs market was valued at $2.40 billion in 2012 and is forecast to grow at 18.1 percent CAGR from 2013 to 2019. Different end-use industry sectors such as consumer electronics, ICT, transport (automotive and aerospace), military and others (biomedical applications and R&D), are benefitting from 3D IC integration technology.
Transparency Research says the global 3D ICs market in 2012 was dominated by the ICT sector, which accounted for 24.2 percent revenue share. The bandwidth requirement for high performance networking equipment and storage capacity of devices rises in every new generation.
Hence, to address bandwidth and memory challenges the emerging ICT sector is expected to adopt 3D IC integration technology for its high chip density and high bandwidth advantages.
SOI (silicon on insulator) wafers are widely preferred for 3D IC fabrication as it reduces unwanted heat production and parasitic capacitance.
Various industry products such as MEMS and sensors, optoelectronics and imaging, RF SiP, memories, logic (3D SiP/SoC) and HB LED are expected to deploy 3D IC integration. Among these products MEMS and sensor, logic (3D SiP/SoC) and memories (3D Stacks) together accounted for approximately 67.6 percent of market revenue share in 2012.
Continuous demand for devices with less expensive storage and higher capacity are the key factors for driving NAND and DRAM memory market. With the increasing demand for consumer electronic products, sales of image sensor and MEMS devices are estimated to grow in the forecast period. This in turn is expected to support adoption of 3D ICs in various devices.
Geographically, the Asia Pacific region is expected to remain the largest market for 3D IC technology due to the emerging ICT and consumer electronics sector in this area. The Asia Pacific's revenue share in 2012 was 40.7 percent.
Driven by emerging opportunities and high growth potential, various players from semiconductors and packaging are entering 3D IC integration space, making the competition intense. Among these, players are TSMC, Xilinx and Samsung Electronics which hold a dominant position in the market, collectively accounting for more than 54.5 percent of the market in 2012, with TSMC being the leader.
New entrants are expected to face stiff competition from existing players, and will have to focus on high investments on R&D and comprehensive ecosystem for IC integration and testing so as to sustain growth in the long run. Other vendors in the market are 3M Company, Micron Technology, Elpida Memory, Ziptronix, MonolithIC 3D, Tezzaron Semiconductor, STATS ChipPAC and UMC among others.
