Growth of Opto, Sensor, Discrete Devices Outpace ICs

2nd April 2012

IC Insights

ES Admin

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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).

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).
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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 Details
The 2012 edition of the O-S-D Report continues to expand IC Insights' coverage of the semiconductor industry with detailed analysis of trends and growth rates in the optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes market segments. The seventh annual edition of the report contains a detailed forecast of sales, unit shipments, and selling prices for more than 30 individual product types and categories through 2016. The 2012 O-S-D Report (with 232 charts and figures) is available for $2,990, which includes Internet-accessible PDF files under an individual-user license. Additional users can be added for $695 each. A multi-user corporate license is $6,090. The report is also available in an optional CD-ROM media format for an additional price of $295. View for more information.