According to the forecasters this would be the first time since 1993-1995 that the semiconductor market has enjoyed three consecutive years of double-digit growth.
Over the 5-year period from 2016-2021, the CAGR for the semiconductor market was 11%, representing a very strong period that included a surge in DRAM and flash memory markets in 2017 and 2018 and strong post-Covid recovery in 2020 and 2021.
However, the semiconductor industry is known to be very cyclical and ongoing annual double-digit gains are unsustainable and, as a consequence, IC Insights expects total semiconductor sales will rise over the next five years at a more moderate compound annual growth rate of 7.1%.
The 2021-2026 CAGR for total opto, sensor, discretes (O-S-D devices) is projected to rise by 8.0% and total IC sales are expected to increase at a slightly lower pace of 6.9%.
CAGRs among major semiconductor product categories are forecast to range from a high of 12.3% for sensors/actuators to 3.1% for discretes.
However, throughout the forecast period, sensor sales are expected to increase significantly in automobiles, mobile phones, and portable and wearable systems.
In addition, more systems are using multiple sensors and sensor fusion software for multi-dimensional measurements to support greater machine intelligence and the ability to recognize movement, know locations, and monitor changes in the surrounding environment.
The logic IC market is forecast to post the strongest CAGR among the major IC categories continuing its strong performance in recent years, with both automotive and industrial special purpose logic devices delivering strong growth in this segment.
