Over the last few years, car manufacturers have ramped up plans to install wireless communications, advanced dashboard displays, electric batteries, and autonomous driving systems in their latest vehicles. That has been music to the semiconductor industry’s ears, improving the fortunes of major companies ranging from Infineon Technologies and NXP Semiconductors to Intel and Nvidia.
The market for automotive electronic systems will continue growing into the foreseeable future, according to market researcher IC Insights. Sales are projected to grow from $142 billion to $152 billion in 2018, increasing another 6.3 percent to $162 billion in 2019 as the latest technologies become more widely available onboard mid-range and lower-end vehicles and as aftermarket products, IC Insights explained.
The compound annual growth rate over the next half decade is projected to be around 6.4 percent, topping all other major end applications for semiconductors, including communications and industrial equipment. The automotive segment is forecast to account for 9.4 percent of the $1.62 trillion global market for electronic systems market this year, a slight increase from 9.1 percent last year.
The value of semiconductors embedded inside cars will increase to more than $540 per vehicle before the end of the year, up from around $380 per vehicle in 2012, according to IC Insights. Navigation, collision avoidance, backup cameras, and other systems going into the latest vehicles are using an increasing number of microcontrollers, memory chips, sensors and power management components.
Car manufacturers are expected to increase analog semiconductor spending by around 14 percent over the next year, according to IC Insights. The market for special-purpose microprocessors used in automotive applications are projected to grow 29 percent next year after jumping 45 percent the previous year. Memory chips are also playing an increasingly critical role in the latest in-vehicle systems.
