11% growth for semis this year, says IC Insights

Author: EIS Release Date: Jun 13, 2022

Semiconductor growth this year is still seen at 11%, says IC Insights in a quarterly update of the McLean Report which sees higher gains in microprocessors and power discretes this year, but lower sales increases in optoelectronics to deliver a 2022 market worth $680.7 billion.

 

The Update raises and lowers sales growth forecasts in a number of major semiconductor product categories this year (Figure 1).

 

Figure 1

 

The Update raises the sales forecast for microcomponent ICs to 11% in 2022 from 7% early this year.

 

This increase is being driven by stronger microprocessor sales in the embedded MPU category (now up 12% versus 9%, previously) and in cellular application processors (rising 22%, which is significantly higher than 10% in the January forecast).

 

The overall projection of total IC sales growth in 2022 is unchanged and expected to rise 11% this year to a record-high $567.1 billion.

 

The Update keeps the 2022 growth forecast unchanged in analogue ICs (up 12%) and logic integrated circuits (up 11%).

 

The Update lowers this year’s forecast for total sales volume in the non-IC semiconductor market categories—optoelectronics, sensors and actuators, and discrete semiconductors (O-S-D), which account for about 17% of total semiconductor revenue worldwide.

 

Total O-S-D sales are now expected to rise 9% to $113.6 billion versus the previous projection of 11% growth in 2022.

 

The new forecast cuts optoelectronics sales growth this year to just 6% because of weak gains in CMOS image sensors and lamp devices (mostly light-emitting diodes—LEDs).

 

However, the weakness in optoelectronics is partly being offset by stronger increases in discrete semiconductors, primarily because of higher increases in sales of power transistors (now expected to be up 11% in 2022) and diodes (projected to grow 10%) due to tight supplies worldwide and rising average selling prices (ASPs).

 

IC Insights’ strong 15% growth forecast for sensor/actuator semiconductors remains unchanged.