Semiconductor market to see steady growth in 2016

For 2015, growth in Optoelectronics (12.1%), Sensors (3.4%), and Analogue (2.5%) is expected to be partially offset by declines in Discrete (-6.8%), Micro (-1.5%), Logic (-1.6%), and Memory (-1%). By geography, for 2015, growth in Asia-Pacific is expected to be offset by declines in Americas, Europe and Japan. Europe and Japan will show a decline in 2015 at the US$-based forecast, which is mainly based on the current FX effect between the Euro/USD and Yen/USD.

The semiconductor market growth in 2015 is expected to be driven by Analogue Signal Converters (up 17%), Communications Analogue (up 9%), 32b MCU (up 14%), Automotive DSP (up 28%), Display Drivers (up 12%), Touch Screen Controllers (up 31%), Communications Logic/short range (up 13%), Optoelectronics (up 12%) and Actuators (up 10%).

For 2016, all major product categories (excluding memory) and all regions (except Europe) are forecasted to grow. For 2017, all major product categories and regions are forecasted to grow with the assumption of a rebound in the macro economy throughout the forecast period. As a result, the worldwide semiconductor market is forecasted to be up 1.4% to $341bn in 2016 and up 3.1% to $352bn in 2017, respectively.

By end application, automotive and wireless communications are projected to grow faster than the total market, whereas consumer and computer are expected to grow slower than the total market. By region, a positive growth rate is projected for all regions in 2017. The Americas region is expected to show the highest growth rate for 2016 and 2017 and is expected to reach $71bn in 2016, which is a 21% share of the total semiconductor market.