FPGA Unit Shipments Projected to Grow 14.4% through 2021, Says Semico Research

The ASIC design starts market continues to evolve with changes in the end-use markets.  In terms of unit growth rates the Communications segment is now third behind Industrial and Consumer. The communications segment will have the most number of design starts over the next 5 years while automotive will have the highest growth rate of all the segments.  However Industrial, while a very fragmented market, will have a higher number of design starts than automotive driven by Smart Grid applications along with a renewed growth in factory automation applications. The factory applications will be driven by an adjustment in design philosophy by incorporating sensors at every stage of the manufacturing process and the need for new solutions to manage this data flow.  A recent Semico Research, ASIC Design Starts 2017: Consumer and Industrial Lead the Way, (SC107-17) predicts FPGA unit shipments will have a CAGR of 14.4% through 2021.
 
"The new FPGA architectures that employ one or more CPU cores at increasingly lower price points and will drive unit volumes and produce a higher growth rate than for PLDs, although total unit volumes will still be somewhat lower than for PLDs," according to Rich Wawrzyniak, Senior Analyst ASIC/SoC Research.  "Market acceptance for Structured ASICs has declined due to lack of support from major semiconductor vendors and is seeing declining unit volumes."   
 
Key findings include:

• The Basic SoC product segment is growing at the fastest rate of any of the profiled product types with a CAGR of 9.0% from 2016 - 2021.

• Asia/Pacific will see the largest CAGR at 9.3% over the forecast period

• Worldwide ASIC unit market will show a 10.1% CAGR from 2016 - 2021.

• PLD unit volumes are forecast to increase 3.6% in 2017

The report,  ASIC Design Starts 2017: Consumer and Industrial Lead the Way, (SC107-17), contains comprehensive data regarding the current and future ASIC design start landscape.  The report is 93 pages long with 60 tables and 66 charts covering the following key metrics:

• End market applications:

            *Computer
            *Consumer
            *Communications
            *Industrial and Automotive

• ASIC product types analyzed by design starts with unit shipments for:

            *Analog and Mixed Signal
            *3 SoC types
            *FPGAs and PLDs

• Design Starts for the 9 ASIC Product types by

      *Process Geometry
      *Region
      *Design Complexity

• Two years of history (2015 -2016) and a 5-year forecast (2017 - 2021)