An impressive 27 of the 33 major IC Insights product categories defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics will experience growth this year. That is according to IC Insights, the market research analyst, which said that it expects to see 11 segments grow at a rate better than seven percent in 2012.
Six categories are, in fact, set to see double digit growth this year, IC Insights said. This contrasts strongly with the IC report in 2011, which forecast 18 products experiencing decline.
The NAND Flash memory market will lead the growth list, according to the research firm, which added that it expects nor Flash to languish at the bottom of the list. The ever-increasing demand for smartphones and tablet devices has driven the demand for NAND flash over the last few years. And looking ahead to 2012, the firm said that it expects to see the technology benefit from growing demand for solid state drives.
For the first time ever, in fact, IC said that it expects to see the total Flash market surpassing the DRAM market in 2012. This, the firm said, is largely due to high demand for NAND Flash, allied to ongoing weakness in dram average selling prices.
This year will see Wireless Telecom - Special Purpose Logic/MPR devices and 32bit MCUs lead all product segments, IC said, adding that it expects the segments to witness a 15 percent growth. And the firm said that it expects the 16bit MCU to surpass the 8bit MCU market for the first time.
In terms of integrated circuits (IC), meanwhile, the research firm expects the rise of automotive-related ICs to continue this year. The use of semiconductor technology in vehicles has increased in recent times thanks to safety and environmental issues.
Nor Flash, SRAM, EEPROM/other, DSP, gate array, and DRAM, by contrast, are all expected to experience their second consecutive year of slower sales in 2012, IC Insights said.