News


2011 microcontroller market report

18 April 2012 News

Worldwide microcontroller market share for 2011 saw a few changes take place among top suppliers. The most noticeable change was that of Atmel, which climbed up the rankings with an increase in microcontroller revenue of 25%, according to Databeans estimates.

Atmel is engaged in the growing touch screen controller market. While most of its revenue is contributed by sales to smartphone suppliers, there is a growing demand for touch screen technology in other consumer segments as well as the computer market. Overall competition in this market from Atmel, Microchip Technology and Infineon Technologies has become very close and is only separated by 0,8% between these competitors.

Table 1. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier.
Table 1. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier.

Renesas Electronics retained its healthy lead as the number one supplier in 2011, regardless of the difficulties it faced in the Thoku earthquake and tsunami. The company’s slight 3% loss year over year is the largest change in revenue since its merger with NEC in 2009.

In terms of individual market segments, the automotive market easily represents the single largest application for microcontrollers with nearly $6 billion in global sales estimated for 2012. That amount is 39% of the total 2012 microcontroller market. This segment is also slated to be one of the fastest growing overall with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% until 2017.

The consumer market is also forecasted to grow at the same 9% CAGR over the next five years. The smartcards market is the second fastest growing market within microcontrollers specifically; however, it is the emerging touch screen controller market that has seen significant growth. This is due to inclusion of these new interface devices in smartphones, consumer devices, and commercial or industrial controls.

It is interesting to see how the microcontroller market share shifts when the smartcard segment is removed from the microcontroller revenue table. As can be seen in Table 2, a significant proportion of Freescale’s growth did not include smartcards, while the rest of the top 10 only moved a percentage point or two. This dynamic for analysing microcontroller share also allows Synaptics to make an appearance in the top 10 with a 1,8% share.

Table 2. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier less smartcards.
Table 2. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier less smartcards.

When the microcontroller market share is broken out a step further, even more information about the competitive landscape becomes apparent. Table 3 examines what the worldwide microcontroller market share looks like without either smartcards or automotive microcontroller revenue included. The obvious difference is that automotive applications are the driving force to keeping this market positive overall in 2011.

Table 3. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier less smartcards and automotive.
Table 3. 2011 and 2010 worldwide microcontroller revenue share by supplier less smartcards and automotive.

When market share is analysed in this regard, Atmel shows the largest amount of revenue growth. This can be attributed to the company’s success in the consumer market with its maXTouch controller business which is in over eight smartphone designs. Atmel’s business also added another foundry partner in 2011, MagnaChip, to work with TSMC and UMC, as well as its own fabs.

Cypress Semiconductor also made huge year over year gains in 2011 and doubled its market share in microcontrollers less smartcards and automotive. All of its revenue comes from mobile phone microcontrollers, in which it is the number 3 supplier.

For more information visit www.databeans.net





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Revamped technical training centre in Welkom
News
Resolution Circle has announced the launch of its newly revamped training centre in Welkom, which will enhance technical education and foster industry partnerships.

Read more...
E-mobility: Navigate safety, interoperability and conformance
Concilium Technologies News
In this whitepaper, these challenges are discussed in more detail and the question is asked: How can EV and EVSE manufacturers navigate a complex regulatory landscape and deliver a quality product, without compromising time-to-market projections?

Read more...
Navigating South Africa’s transition from the NQF to OQSF framework
News
South Africa is at a crossroads of a significant educational and vocational transition, as it shifts from the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to the Occupational Qualifications Sub Framework (OQSF) managed by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations.

Read more...
Practical insights: Draft regulations on proposed sectoral targets
News
On 1 February 2024, the Minister of Employment and Labour issued new draft regulations concerning sectoral targets (draft regulations), providing a 90-day window for interested parties to comment.

Read more...
Top skills needed in microelectronics industry
News
The EU funded project MicroElectronics Training, Industry and Skills (METIS), which began in 2019, has officially concluded, and with this, SEMI Europe has published the final Yearly Monitoring Report.

Read more...
RS expands its professional lineup
RS South Africa News
RS PRO offers a wide range of high-quality electronics components, to meet a range of needs, from industrial connectors and passives to the latest test and measurement equipment.

Read more...
Alternative energy resource hub
News
Mouser Electronics is providing engineers with key information to solve today’s design challenges through its dedicated alternative energy resource centre.

Read more...
NECTO Studio 6.0 brings circuits to life
News
MIKROE has added increased graphical functionality and Clang support for ARM and RISC-V to its cross-platform IDE for embedded applications.

Read more...
Microchip earns certification in vehicle cybersecurity
Altron Arrow News
Microchip Technology’s corporate processes associated with specific automotive work products have recently been audited by a third party, UL Solutions, and certified as compliant to ISO/SAE 21434.

Read more...
From the editor's desk: A scourge on education
Technews Publishing News
The current government has done very little to curb the rampant affect that loadshedding has had on education in the last 10 years.

Read more...