PC no longer serves as the ultimate application of semiconductors. Instead, numerous new application areas are constantly emerging. Among them is the automotive semiconductor market - a market that has remained a strong force in the semiconductor industry for many years.
The personal computer (PC) market has long been the single biggest driver of semiconductor sales, but it has declined for the sixth consecutive year recently. Meanwhile, the semiconductor industry is expected to have its best sales performance in 2017, with the strongest growth momentum coming from the automotive market, and this growth momentum is expected to continue until 2021.
PC no longer serves as the ultimate application of semiconductors. Instead, numerous new application areas are constantly emerging. Among them is the automotive semiconductor market - a market that has long been a strong player in the semiconductor industry - as the number of semiconductor products in each vehicle increases, automotive semiconductors have rapidly become the most important market in the semiconductor industry.
In fact, market research firm IC Insights predicts that the automotive semiconductor market will remain the strongest chip end-use market at least until 2021. According to the company's forecast, from 2016 to 2021, sales of automotive electronic systems will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%.
IC Insights states that this growth trend is driven by the increasing demand for automotive electronic systems in the market, as well as the growing focus on driverless (autonomous driving) vehicles, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, as well as in-vehicle safety, convenience and environmental protection features. The interest in electric vehicles (EVs) is needless to say.
