2017 semiconductor shipments to exceed one trillion

Figure 1 shows that semiconductor unit shipments are forecast to increase to 1,024.5bn devices in 2017 from 32.6bn in 1978, which amounts to average annual growth of 9.2% over the 39 year period and demonstrates how increasingly dependent the world is on semiconductors. From 2009 to 2014, the average annual growth rate of semiconductor units was 7.6% - somewhat slower than the long-term growth rate - due to global economic uncertainties through that five-year period. Stronger 8.2% annual growth is forecast from 2014 to 2019 as momentum strengthens for electronic systems.

Figure 1 - Tracking semiconductor unit growth

The strongest annual increase in semiconductor unit growth over the time span shown in Figure 1 was 34% in 1984; the biggest decline was 19% in 2001 following the dot-com bust. Semiconductor unit shipments first topped the 100bn mark in 1987, exceeded 500bn units for the first time in 2006 and then surpassed 600bn units in 2007 before the global financial meltdown and recession caused semiconductor shipments to fall in 2008 and 2009, the only time the industry has experienced a back-to-back decline in unit shipments. Semiconductor unit growth then surged 25% in 2010, the second-highest growth rate since 1978. IC Insights forecasts semiconductor unit growth of 10.0% in 2015 and 11.0% in 2016. The semiconductor unit growth rate is forecast to fall to only 3.4% in 2017, enough to push annual shipments beyond one trillion devices for the first time.

Interestingly, the percentage split of IC and O-S-D devices within total semiconductor units has remained fairly steady despite advances in IC technology and the blending of functions to reduce chip count within systems. In 1978, O-S-D devices accounted for 79% of semiconductor units and ICs represented 21%. Almost 40 years later in 2017, O-S-D devices are forecast to account for 74% of total semiconductor units, compared to 26% for ICs (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - O-S-D devices account for the bulk of semiconductor unit shipments