Most products will see growth in 2012, says IC Insights, which tracks 33 product categories. Of these, 27 are expected to grow this year, 11 will grow more than 7%, and six will have double digit growth.
This is a much better prognosis than he actual market in 2011 when 15 product categories showed positive growth and 18 experienced a decline.
NAND Flash memory is forecast to top the growth list while NOR Flash is forecast to be at the bottom of the list with the biggest percent decline in sales for 2012.
NAND Flash has been a top growing market segment over the past few years due to the growth of consumer-driven mobile media devices—particularly smartphones and tablet PCs.
In 2012, NAND Flash will benefit from growing demand for solid-state drives (SSDs). The combination of strong demand for NAND Flash and continued weakness in DRAM average selling prices is forecast to result in the Flash market surpassing the DRAM market for the first time ever in 2012.
Wireless Telecom—Special Purpose Logic/MPR devices (which includes the myriad of applications processors used in smartphones and tablet/media PCs) and 32-bit MCUs are forecast to lead all product segments with 15% growth in 2012.
Other products expected to show better-than-market performance are MPUs, display drivers, PLDs, and 16-bit MCUs. It is worth noting that the market for 16-bit MCUs is forecast to surpass the 8-bit MCU market for the first time, joining the 32-bit MCU market, which first surpassed the 8-bit MCU segment in 2010.
Momentum for automotive-related ICs is forecast to carry over into 2012 as well as semiconductor content per new vehicle increases due to government safety and environmental mandates (low tire-pressure warning, electronic stability, collision avoidance, etc.) and consumer interest in on-board telematics. Auto—Special Purpose Logic/MPR and Auto—Application-Specific Analogue are expected to be among the top growing segments for the third consecutive year.