Analog Integrated Circuits Market to 2020 - Increasing Demand for Energy Efficient Electronics to Drive Market Growth

18 Jan 2011 • by Natalie Aster

GBI Research’s “Analog Integrated Circuits Market to 2020 - Increasing Demand for Energy Efficient Electronics to Drive Market Growth” report does an incisive analysis of the analog ICs category of semiconductor devices. Increased in portable electronics and handsets production will increase the sales of analog ICs. Power management ICs, signal processing components, and interfaces are identified the high-growth market segments within the Analog IC category.

The power management sector accounted for 52% of the overall general purpose analog IC consumption in 2010. Power management ICs fall under analog ICs and are used to increase the power efficiency of electronic devices. Power management ICs are used extensively in portable devices. They facilitate addition of more functions while minimizing the battery drain.

The use of analog ICs is increasing in wireless applications. The analog IC technology will play key role in the future wireless systems such as 4G cellular phone systems, wireless sensor networking systems and broadband wireless networking systems. Wireless systems need analog ICs mainly in their transceiver chips (which contain transmitters & receivers) for signal processing. Other application areas of analog ICs in wireless systems are wireless data access cards, wireless LAN cards, wireless mouse, wireless repeater, so on.

Analog & Mixed Signal ASICs are penetrating into newer applications which will bring sales growth opportunities. ASICs constituted about 60% of the total analog ICs consumed in 2009.

Rapid technological advancements are happening in the categories of (PMASICs) Power Management ASICs and Sensor ASICs. Power Management ASICs find applications in consumer electronic devices such as mp3 players, digital cameras, LCD screens, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) such as cable modems and routers, Mobile TVs, flash memory drives (USB drives), mobiles, cell phones and other commonly battery powered devices. ASICs are used in pressure sensors, sound or audio sensors, opto-sensors. Mixed signal ASICs are increasingly used as MEMS sensors, image sensors and temperature sensors.

The mixed signals ICs have witnessed strong growth with the increased use of 3G cell phones and other portable gadgets. A mixed signal IC is used for processing both analog and digital signals. Mixed signal ICs are categorized as analog ICs when analog blocks occupy a substantial portion of the chip area.

Mixed signal ICs are finding applications in diverse areas that include telecommunication, automotive, grid-connected power electronics, and bio-medical equipment. With the widening application range, growth can be expected in application specific mixed signal ICs in specific purpose applications like automotive, communication, telecommunication and multimedia sectors.

Portable devices are going to drive the growth for analog chips. Portable devices are run on batteries and require efficient power management to extend battery life. The cell phone market offers a huge potential for growth of analog ICs followed by the computer segment. The increasing use of mobile computing is expected to fuel the battery management market.

Growth in solar PV installations will cause demand growth for analog ICs. Analog ICs are primarily used for two functionalities namely voltage and current monitoring in power inverters for solar PV applications. In addition, analog ICs are used in smart meters that measure energy in solar appliances. Growth in deployment of smart meters that require analog functions is expected to drive the demand of analog ICs.

Spurt in demand of analog ICs has exacerbated the supply shortage in 2010.This has also increased the average selling price of analog ICs. This demand supply imbalance will persist throughout 2010 and is expected to increase the lead times.