Semico is a semiconductor marketing & consulting research company located in Phoenix, Arizona. We offer custom consulting, portfolio packages, individual market research studies and premier industry conferences.
The semiconductor industry today is faced with several substantial issues-not the least of which are the continuing rise in design costs for complex SoCs, the decrease in the incidence of first-time-right designs and the increase in the design cycle time against shrinking market windows.
The semiconductor industry today is faced with several substantial issues—not the least of which are the continuing rise in design costs for complex SoCs, the decrease in the incidence of first-time-right designs and the increase in the design cycle time against shrinking market windows.
Despite the pandemic disrupting life around the world in 1Q 2020, quarterly semiconductor revenues declined by only 3.4% from 4Q 2019 and were up 6.8% compared with 1Q 2019 revenues. However, part of that recovery is the fact that 1Q 2019 revenues were down -14.6%, a much higher decline than seasonally normal for a first quarter. Units fell -5.6% sequentially. Our overall 2020 revenue forecast has been lowered to slightly negative to -0.22%.
Today it is clear that the U.S. and world GDP will suffer due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and most forecasters are adjusting their numbers down. On the other hand, the semiconductor industry is experiencing a few sparks of positive demand by responding quickly to the warning signs from China and the shelter-at-home directive. Semiconductors used in sensing and monitoring medical end applications are expected to remain in high demand through 2020 and new wearable products are already being introduced.
The Wafer Demand Summary and Assumptions is a quarterly publication. It includes an excel spreadsheet with annual wafer demand by product by technology from 2010-2024. Product categories include DRAM, SRAM, NAND, NOR, Other Non-volatile, MPU, MCU, DSP, Computing MOS Logic, Communications MOS Logic, Consumer MOS Logic, Automotive MOS Logic, Other MOS Logic, Programmable Logic, Standard Cell, Gate Array, Analog, Discrete, Optoelectronics, Sensors and Digital Bipolar.
The prospect of billions of connected devices using sensors to collect data 24/7-along with the innovations and cost-reduction provided by MEMS devices-has stimulated increased interest in finding a cost-effective, portable energy harvesting solution. The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to grow at a high rate driven by connectivity across many market segments. In addition to portable applications, many IoT applications will be battery-operated.
Semiconductor sales improved in the second half of 2019 as expected but not enough to counteract the severe drop that occurred in the first half. Although dollar and unit sales declined for the year, both memory and logic showed signs of improvement in the second half.
The Wafer Demand Summary and Assumptions is a quarterly publication. It includes an excel spreadsheet with annual wafer demand by product by technology from 2010-2023. Product categories include DRAM, SRAM, NAND, NOR, Other Non-volatile, MPU, MCU, DSP, Computing MOS Logic, Communications MOS Logic, Consumer MOS Logic, Automotive MOS Logic, Other MOS Logic, Programmable Logic, Standard Cell, Gate Array, Analog, Discrete, Optoelectronics, Sensors and Digital Bipolar.
The semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) market has become an integral part of the semiconductor industry. Third party IP has propelled the industry, opening the door for many new products from start-ups to established IDMs. Enabling increasingly complex devices, reducing the cost of product development and reducing the time to market for both leading-edge and mature products are just a few of the benefits of third party IP. Open architecture IP allows users to customize and adapt cores to their own specific applications and provide the opportunity for unique differentiation.
For the most part, third party IP uses a business model that employs licensing and royalty fees. This payment arrangement has been successfully adopted by most market players and has matured with the IP market. In general, this IP model has allowed the market to be highly successful even though some IP has been constrained by the rules and regulations of closed architectures. Over the years, some users of IP have become disgruntled with the lack of design flexibility and the high licensing fees and royalties associated with closed architectures.
