IC Insights: Communications forecast to drive IC sales
Computer end-use systems maintain a stronghold in Japan, while the automotive apps market is big in Europe
Communications systems are forecast to be the driving force for IC sales in three out of the four major global geographic regions.
IC Insights believes they will overtake computer systems to become the largest system application for ICs for the first time in 2014.
This is according to data published in the 2014 edition of IC Insights' "IC Market Drivers, A Study of Emerging and Major End-Use Applications Fueling Demand for Integrated Circuits".
The figure above shows that communications systems are forecast to be the largest application for ICs in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions in 2014. In Japan, computer systems are forecast to remain the largest end-use application for IC sales.
Communications, computer, and consumer are forecast to be the three largest end-use categories for ICs in each geographic region except Europe. These three system applications are forecast to account for 83.4 percent of IC sales in the Americas in 2014, 78.5 percent of IC sales in Japan, and 92.3 percent of IC sales in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Europe, automotive systems are still a key driver for IC sales and are forecast to account for nearly one-quarter of IC sales this year. Communications, computer, and automotive applications are forecast to represent 80.6 percent of IC sales in Europe this year.
For years, computer applications were the largest market for IC sales but that is forecast to change in 2014 as the global communications IC market surpasses computer IC sales for the first time.
Globally, communications systems are forecast to represent 37.9 percent of the $285.9 billion IC market this year compared to 36.3 percent for computers, 11.2 percent for consumer, 7.6 percent for automotive, 6.2 percent for industrial, and 0.9 percent for government/military applications as shown in the figure below.
From 2011 to 2017, the percentage of total IC sales to the communications and computer markets has been, and is expected to remain, fairly constant at 73-75 percent, however the mix is forecast to change significantly.
In 2011, 41.1 percent of global IC revenue came from sales to the computer market compared to 32.1 percent from communications systems. By 2017, communications applications are forecast to account for 41.8 percent of IC sales compare to 32.7 percent for computing systems.
