Analogue IC market to grow just 1% in 2013

"The total analogue market has struggled to post meaningful sales growth over the past five years. Things are not expected to change much in 2013 as the total analogue IC market is forecast to grow only 1 per cent. For 2013 market for digital ICs is forecast to grow 6 per cent."

There was a very strong 14 per cent upturn in analogue unit shipments in 2Q13. The market analyst believes this was due to general inventory rebuilding and but also from growth of portable mobile devices, which have been a catalyst for power management analogue and consumer analogue IC unit growth to date. This momentum carried into 3Q13 as well, and was forecast to result in a 9 per cent increase in analogue unit growth. Historically, sales and unit shipments of ICs slow down in the fourth quarter of the year as the buildup to the holiday buying season ends.

For the year, analogue unit shipments are forecast to exceed 100-billion devices for the first time in history.

The analogue IC ASP is forecast to decline 11 per cent in 2013. Increased competition for design wins in medical/health applications and in portable consumer/communication systems helped drive down the total analogue ASP. In addition, many analogue manufacturers have moved production to 200mm wafers (300mm wafers, in some cases), which has helped cut manufacturing costs per die and led to lower ASPs.

Some of the strongest analogue IC unit growth in the first half of 2013 came from power management devices, which help extend useful battery life and operation of battery-powered, portable and mobile systems. In the application-specific segment, very strong unit growth for communications and industrial analogue devices offset significant declines in consumer and computer analogue shipments in the first half of the year. Rising sales of personal and portable medical/health electronics contributed to the uptick in industrial analogue shipments, claims IC Insights.

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