SAN FRANCISCO — The average value of semiconductor content found in electronic systems is projected to set a record in 2017 thanks to surging average selling prices for DRAM and NAND flash memory, according to market research firm IC Insights Inc.
IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.) said the global electronic systems market is expected to grow by just 2 percent this year to about $1.49 trillion. Meanwhile, the semiconductor market is expected to surge by 15 percent to reach $419.1 billion, the firm said.
Assuming that this forecasted growth for both electronic devices and chips comes to pass, semiconductors would account for 28.1 percent of the total value of electronic devices, easily surpassing the all-time high mark of 25.1 percent set in 2010.
What's more, IC Insights forecasts that the industry will set new records again in each of the next two years and that the value of semiconductor content in electronic devices will stay above 28 percent through 2021.
IC Insights also said that it forecasts that the total semiconductor market will exceed $500 billion four years from now in 2021.
The semiconductor industry has historically tended to outgrow the electronic devices market due to the increasing value of the chips used in them, IC Insights noted. With global unit shipments of cellp hones, automobiles and PCs expected to be weak in 2017, the chip market's projected 15 percent growth is a direct result of the increasing content of chips in electronic systems, IC Insights said.
While the trend of increasing semiconductor content has been evident for the past 30 years, the big jump in the average semiconductor content in electronic systems in 2017 is expected to be primarily due to the huge surge in DRAM and NAND flash ASPs and below average electronic system sales growth this year, the firm said.
—Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.
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