MANHASSET, NY -- In 2014 media tablets will become the world’s fourth-largest application for semiconductors rising in four short years from obscurity to a level rivaling chip markets for mobile handsets and PCs.
According to market research firm IHS sales of semiconductors for use in media tablets are expected to skyrocket to $18.2 billion in 2014, up from $2.6 billion in 2010, the year of Apple’s introduction of the iPad.
In 2014, sales of semiconductors for tablets are expected to be exceeded only by mobile handsets, mobile PCs and desktop PCs.
“The speed of the media tablet’s rise from near insignificance to top-tier prominence is unprecedented in the history of the global semiconductor industry,” said Dale Ford, head of electronics & semiconductor research for IHS, in a statement. “This meteoric ascension will have major repercussions for the global semiconductor industry, as it realigns to accommodate the fast growth and vast size of the media tablet market.”
“While there will be a handful of suppliers that will stand out as the leading suppliers of semiconductors for media tablets, there are many component markets that represent highly attractive opportunities for a diverse group of suppliers.”
Coming up from the No. 35 position in 2010, media tablets rose to become the eighth-largest semiconductor market in 2011. Their ranking will climb to fifth place in 2012, and then rise to fourth in 2014—a position it is set to maintain in 2015, according to IHS.
Mobile handsets will become the world’s largest semiconductor application in 2012, for the first time ever exceeding mobile PCs as the leading chip segment.