Product Development & Management

Semiconductor Industry On Track For Best Year Ever

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Semiconductors are surging. Recently, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors hit $107.9 billion for third quarter 2017, making it the industry’s highest-ever quarterly sales and soaring to an increase of 10.2% over the previous quarter.

“The global market is poised to reach its highest-ever annual revenue in 2017,” John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO, said in a press release. “Standouts among semiconductor product categories included memory products like DRAM and NAND flash, both of which posted major year-to-year growth in September, as well as logic products, which enjoyed double-digit growth year-to-year.”

The boom in semiconductor sales this year is being partially attributed to tight supply and higher selling prices in the memory chip market, but there are also other promising trends.

The growing expansion of electronic systems in cars, for instance, as well as the billions of dollars being invested in autonomous vehicles, are expected to continue contributing to this semiconductor rally.

As research firm IC Insights reports, automotive is shaping up to be the fastest-growing electronic system market for semiconductors through 2021, beating out others like medical, industrial and communications.

“Automotive electronics is growing as technology becomes more widely available on mid-range and entry-level cars and as consumers purchase technology-based aftermarket products,” IC Insights notes. “For semiconductor suppliers, this is good news as analog ICs, MCUs, and a great number of sensors are required for many of these automotive systems.”

Check out how a Fortune 100 semiconductor company is accelerating development cycles, balancing functional safety and reducing cost for software-based automotive components.

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