Semico: System(s)-on-a-Chip – A Braver New World

Semico Roadmap for Die Area Partitioning 1999 - 2017 - Source: Semico Research Corp.

Phoenix, Arizona October 24, 2007 - The System-on-a-Chip (SoC) method of creating silicon solutions holds great promise for the future of the semiconductor industry and ASIC markets in particular. Semico Research forecasts the revenue for the SoC market will grow from $37.4 billion in 2007 to over $56 billion in 2012, a compounded annual growth rate approaching 9%.

“The SoC market was considered “A Brave New World” in ASIC design just a few short years ago when such designs were state-of-the-art and cutting-edge and took all the resources most companies had just to complete,” quotes Rich Wawrzyniak, Senior Analyst at Semico Research.. “Today, the market has moved on from the concept of the ‘single SoC on a single chip’ to actually creating ‘multiple System(s) on a single chip’ – moving into “A Braver New World!”

The industry is poised at the ‘tip of the iceberg’ regarding this phenomena, especially when one considers it will be possible to instantiate many 10’s if not 100’s of CPU cores on a single die in the very near future. In fact, this is already happening today in a few instances.

Semico’s believes that the following view of how the portioning of die area relative to memory and logic will play out over the next several years. This view takes into account the current trends in SoC design regarding the usage of embedded memory and logic. Memory content on an average part will represent approximately 60% of the SoC die area in 2012. The trend towards devices with multiple CPU and DSP cores will be an important driver over the short and medium term and that the current issues of utilizing all the transistor budget possible at 65nm and 45nm will become of less importance.

As always, market requirements will dictate what features and functions will be necessary to make products competitive in the marketplace. Issues of logic reuse versus new logic will be solved to a large degree by market pressure and not as much by technical shortcomings over the long term.

Semico’s comprehensive report on SoC also provides analysis and forecasts of the various segments of the SoC market, including device types, regions, and end-market applications.

The report is available for immediate delivery for $3,995. To purchase, please contact Susan Cadel at 607-368-7600 or susanc@semico.com, and reference report SC105-07 System(s)-on-a-Chip: A Braver New World.

About Semico
Technology manufacturers, vendors, service providers, semiconductor professionals and market specialists, utilize Semico’s experienced staff and in-depth research to support critical business, product and technology decisions. Semico’s vision is derived from both a deep technology understanding and comprehensive research, which examines each segment of the supply chain for each market. Regular and ongoing end-user demand and primary research surveys are the foundation of the analysis, enabling Semico to provide insightful market analysis and guidance on future market opportunities.

Semico is a strategic partner with leading technology companies, with access to an extensive worldwide electronic network, databases and expert personnel. Semico was founded in 1994 by a group of semiconductor industry experts and has offices in Phoenix, California, New York, Japan and Taiwan.