After a record-high start in 1Q21, semiconductor merger and acquisition announcements cool off a bit without the “megadeals” seen in 2020, says new update report.

After a surge in semiconductor merger and acquisition announcements in the second half of 2020, the strong M&A momentum carried into the beginning of 2021, with purchase agreements for chip companies, business units, product lines, and related assets reaching a total value of $15.8 billion in 1Q21, setting a record-high level for the first quarter of a year.  However, the pace of semiconductor acquisition agreements fell back over the next five months of 2021, putting this year’s total M&A value at $22.0 billion for the January-August timeperiod, according to IC Insights’ September Update of the 2021 McClean Report.

The combined value of semiconductor M&A agreements announced in the first eight months of 2021 was slightly below the total for the same periods in 2019 and 2020 ($24.7 billion and $23.4 billion, respectively), as shown in Figure 1.

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The total MPU market is on track to exceed $100 billion for the first time ever this year, thanks to strong increases in cellphone application processor revenues, says Mid-Year Update.

Microprocessor sales are maintaining strength in 2021 after climbing 16% last year in the midst of the global Covid-19 virus health crisis that drove up the world’s reliance on the Internet during the pandemic. IC Insights’ recently released Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2021 now projects MPU sales to increase 14% in 2021, which will lift the total microprocessor market to a record-high $103.7 billion, compared to a 9% increase that was expected in January.

The Mid-Year Update raises the projection of MPU unit growth to 11% this year.  With MPU shipments reaching 2.5 billion units and the average selling price (ASP) expected to rise 4% in 2021, annual microprocessors sales are forecast to exceed $100.0 billion for the first time ever this year (Figure 1).

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Top-10 semiconductor suppliers post 10% jump in 2Q21/1Q21 sales.

IC Insights released its August Update to the 2021 McClean Report this month, which includes a review of the top-25 semiconductor sales leaders for 2Q21. The top-10 suppliers for 2Q are covered in this research bulletin.

Semiconductor sales include ICs and optoelectronics, sensors, and discretes (O-S-Ds).  The top-10 semiconductor sales leaders for 2Q21 are shown in Figure 1. The list includes six suppliers headquartered in the U.S., two in South Korea, and two in Taiwan and consists of four fabless companies (Qualcomm, Nvidia, Broadcom, and MediaTek) and one pure-play foundry (TSMC). (more…)

Special Purpose Logic, DRAM, Cellphone MPUs, and Display Drivers forecast to lead industry-wide upturn as demand extends into the second half of the year.

IC Insights recently released its Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2021.  The update includes IC Insights’ ranking of revenue growth rates for the 33 IC product categories defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and confirms that vigorous end-use demand is affecting market growth across all product segments.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of growth rates for the 33 IC product categories in 2020 and IC Insights’ forecast for 2021. IC Insights expects 32 of the 33 product categories to experience sales growth this year with 29 product categories expected to see double-digit growth, representing one of the strongest and broadest sales industry outlooks that IC Insights has ever documented.  In previous strong-growth years, perhaps a handful of IC products had extraordinary sales gains that helped raise overall IC market growth.  But, in 2021, it appears that robust growth has permeated nearly all product categories across the entire IC industry.  Only the fading and insignificant gate array market (forecast sales of $58 million in 2021) is expected to decline in sales.

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A 21% jump would be the largest increase in IC unit shipments since the boom year of 2010.

This week, IC Insights will release its Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2021 that includes its most current forecast for the global IC market from 2021 through 2025.

After a 6% drop in IC unit shipments in 2019, and an 8% increase in 2020, IC Insights forecasts a huge 21% jump in IC unit shipments this year.  Unit shipments in 2021 are forecast to reach 391.2 billion, more than 11x the 34.1 billion units shipped over 30 years ago in 1990.

The 2020-2025 IC unit volume CAGR is forecast to be 11%, five points more than the unit CAGR from 2015-2020.

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Industry firing on all cylinders with robust and widespread demand for ICs.

IC Insights will soon release its Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report that includes its most current forecast for the global IC market from 2021 through 2025.  In a very rare event, 32 of the 33 major IC market categories defined by WSTS are forecast to enjoy an increase in sales this year, with 29 of the product categories expected to see significant double-digit gains.  Strong demand across the entire IC market this year is projected to lift sales for the total IC market 24% and break through the $500 billion plateau for the first time in history (Figure 1).

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After a 3% drop in 2020, the automotive IC market is forecast to surge more than 25% in 2021.

In this month’s June Update to The McClean Report, IC Insights will present its forecast for IC usage by major product type and end-use application (i.e., computer, communications, consumer, automotive, industrial, and government/military) through 2025.

Figure 1 shows that since 1998, only the automotive and communications end-use segments have gained marketshare. Driven by the global explosion of smartphone demand, the communications market almost doubled its share of the IC market from 18.5% in 1998 to 35.0% in 2020.

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