March 28, 2012

Growth of Opto, Sensor, Discrete Devices Outpace ICs

Collective sales growth of O-S-D devices surpassed ICs in 2011 and in three of past four years

Continuing a trend that started a few years ago, total sales of optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discrete components (collectively, the O-S-D market), increased 8.4% in 2011, far surpassing the 0.4% growth in IC sales, according to data compiled in the newly updated 2012 edition of IC Insights' O-S-D Report, A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronic, Sensor/Actuator, and Discretes components. IC Insights forecasts the O-S-D market to grow faster than the IC market in 2012 as well, which would mark the third consecutive year for this achievement (Figure 1).

Collectively, O-S-D devices accounted for 17.9% of the world's $320.8 billion in semiconductor sales in 2011 compared to 14.7% of total revenues in 2001. O S D products are expected to represent about 18.2% of the world's $339.0 billion semiconductor market in 2012, based on IC Insights' forecast.

Figure 1

Throughout the 2011-2016 period, combined sales of O-S-D devices are expected to slightly exceed the growth rate of the larger IC market segment. O-S-D revenues are projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.6% in the forecast period while IC sales are expected to rise by an annual average of 9.4% between 2011 and 2016 (Figure 2).

Figure 2

The sensor/actuator market is projected to grow at the highest rate among the semiconductor segments in the forecast period with its CAGR being 16.4% between 2011 and 2016. IC Insights anticipates stronger and more consistent growth in the sensor/actuator market due to higher volume shipments of these devices in consumer electronics and portable systems. In addition, the automotive industry continues to gain strength after the 2008-2009 recession, and that is adding additional stability and growth momentum to the sensor/actuator market segment.

In a highly unusual situation, the discretes segment, which is composed of low-priced commodity devices, actually outperformed the market growth of ICs in 2006-2011. The discretes sales volume grew at a CAGR of 5.6% compared to IC revenues rising by a CAGR of 3.3% in the last five years. Discretes sales grew at a stronger rate than ICs for a variety of reasons, including intense price erosion in memory integrated circuits, the strong 2010 recovery of discretes sales, and rising prices for many power transistor products.

Report Source

O-S-D Report 2012

More Information Contact

Rob Lineback, sr. market research analyst at IC Insights, phone: +1-817-731-0424, e-mail: [email protected]