Category Archives: LEDs

At this week’s International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW 2013, Snowbird, Utah, June 12-16 2013), imec and Holst Centre presented a large-area fully-organic photodetector array fabricated on a flexible substrate. The imager is sensitive in the wavelength range suitable for x-ray imaging applications.

Because of their very high absorption coefficient, organic semiconductors allow extremely thin active layers (10 to 50 nm). Also, given their low processing temperature, they can be processed on foils. As a result, organic imagers can be more robust and light-weight compared to their traditional counterparts and may be used for conformal coating of randomly shaped substrates. Moreover, the wide variety of organic molecules available ensures that the properties of the active layer can be tuned to applications requiring specific wavelength ranges.

The presented imager is sensitive in the wavelength range between 500 and 600nm, making it compatible with typical scintillators and therefore suitable for x-ray imaging applications. It was fabricated by thermally evaporating an ultrathin (submicron) photosensitive layer of small, organic molecules (SubPc/C60) on top of an organic readout circuit. A semi-transparent top contact enables front-side illumination. The readout backplane was manufactured on six-inch foil-laminated wafers. It consists of pentacene-based thin-film transistors (TFTs) in arrays of 32×32 pixels with varying pitch (1 mm and 200 µm). To prevent degradation of the organic semiconductors in the air, the photodetector array is encapsulated. The imager was characterized under illumination with a calibrated green light-emitting diode (LED), yielding a linearly increasing photocurrent from the incident power of 3 µW/cm2. Dark current density is below 10-6 A/cm2 at a bias voltage of -2V.

organic, flexible imager
Fully-organic, flexible imager developed by imec, Holst Centre and Philips Research

“This latest achievement is a significant step forward in not only finding the optimal materials, but pinpointing the best ways to process materials into reliable organic circuits and systems with state-of-the-art performance,” said Paul Heremans, technology director at the imec/Holst Centre. “Once again, we’re proud to demonstrate how imec’s top-notch research leads to relevant industrial solutions, and subsequently brings added value to our partners’ businesses.”

This research results are presented in collaboration with Philips Research, at the (2013 International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW), sponsored by the International Image Sensor Society (IISS), June 12-16, 2013.

Road and street lighting is a key driver for LED technology in general lighting. In less than a decade, LED technology has created more turmoil in the lighting industry than anything occurring over the previous century. Every professional agrees that what used to be a conservative, well-controlled market is undergoing a massive change, referred to as “the LED revolution.” Therefore, it’s high time to take a close look at what’s happening and why, since each General Lighting application, be it indoor or outdoor, has its own way of adopting LEDs. Outdoor lighting is no stranger to revolution. In fact, today it’s one of the two most dynamic General Lighting market segments for LED adoption. Within the segment, architectural lighting was the early adopter, but the main driver these days is definitely road and street lighting. Historically the largest outdoor segment, it now offers the best prospects for LED development in professional exterior lighting. Road and street lighting is a very attractive market, with EBIT levels generally between five and 15 percent and steady growth despite the economic downturn.

 “We estimate that LED luminaire revenue will reach $435M in 2013 and peak at $516M by 2016, fuelled by the increased need for energy efficiency. Growth will be driven firstly by tunnel lighting, and then relayed into highway, road, residential and amenity lighting applications starting in 2014”, explains Pars Mukish, Market and technology analyst, LED at Yole Développement. “By 2017, market size should decline because of a decreasing replacement market (due to LED-based systems’ higher lifetime) and also because of LED luminaire’s ASP,” he adds.

Yole’s report presents all road and street lighting applications and associated market metrics within the period 2008-2020 for each application and region, detailing drivers & challenges, key players, associated volume/market size (luminaires installed base, LED luminaire and packaged LED sales), and LED penetration rate.

A new approach to luminaire design requiring new manufacturer competencies

Designing with LED implies major changes for conventional luminaire manufacturers – mostly at the optical, electrical and physical levels. With the move to LED technology, traditional luminaire manufacturers face dramatic organizational changes, such as integrating electronic competencies, upgrading optical competencies, taking ownership of the light source (SSL), and revamping production organization. Consequently, internal revolution is required within luminaire companies in order to take full advantage of the LED boom.

This report analyses the LED value proposition in road and street lighting, detailing: major changes between conventional luminaire and LED luminaire, how LED technology can be applied to road and street lighting (drivers, key decision-making criteria, impacts of LED adoption on the overall industry), associated lighting design requirements, etc.

The path to an outdoor lighting market involves several players which have already embraced major changes

“Compared to other lighting applications (residential, commercial, etc.), the outdoor lighting supply chain involves more associated/parallel industries, such as the pole and bracket industry, the control industry and the cable industry,” explains Christophe Richon, CEO of Lux Fit. As is the case for other lighting applications, these industries must also redesign their products in order to make their business sustainable: smaller-size pole and bracket equivalents due to LED miniaturization, new power supply and control capacities due to LEDs’ higher start current, etc.

At the business chain level, outdoor lighting is also quite unique in terms of involving different player types: end-users and specifiers such as municipalities, lighting designers, installers, etc. With LEDs offering longer lifetime, better energy savings and increased aesthetic potential, each player must adapt its activity to make best use of the technology.

This report presents an overview of the road and street lighting industry’s supply chain and business chain (conventional and LED), detailing: each player’s role, main industrial trends, impact of LED integration, etc. Also, company profiles are provided for eight key LED luminaire manufacturers.

Developing new business models to increase LED’s penetration rate

Around the world, LED adoption in road and street lighting has benefitted from financial incentives to hasten the change. While recession in many economies has led some governments to revise their subsidizing policies, others have maintained them, and other support forms are emerging. However, in many countries, public end-users are now faced with a dilemma: invest in public lighting (mainly because of increasing urbanization and the need to implement energy efficient systems) or reduce spending (less public money available, political pressure, etc.).
As a result, public end-users are turning more and more to new business models that provide energy efficient lighting at reduced initial costs, such as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and performance contracts (ESCOs).
This report presents an overview of LED technology drivers, detailing: technology drivers, application drivers and economic drivers.

 

SEMI, the global industry association for companies that supply manufacturing technology and materials to the world’s chip makers, today reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$ 7.31 billion in the first quarter of 2013. The billings figure is 8 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2012 and 32 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from over 100 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $7.78 billion in the first quarter of 2013. The figure is 23 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago and 14 percent higher than the bookings figure for the fourth quarter of 2012.

The quarterly billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars, quarter-over-quarter growth and year-over-year rates by region are as follows:

The Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) from SEMI provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market. A subscription includes three reports: the monthly SEMI Book-to-Bill Report, which offers an early perspective of the trends in the equipment market; the monthly Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (SEMS), a detailed report of semiconductor equipment bookings and billings for seven regions and over 22 market segments; and the SEMI Semiconductor Equipment Consensus Forecast, which provides an outlook for the semiconductor equipment market.

Sapphire is currently used in some exotic, luxury phones. However, the sapphire price reduction combined with the massive adoption of touch screens in smartphones have stimulated the interest of cell phone OEMS for this material. Crystal growth equipment manufacturer GTAT is leading the charge and recently created a lot of buzz around this application and on the OEM front. Apple is rumored to have conducted an extended due diligence.

Adoption of sapphire in mobile display covers represents the single largest opportunity. It remains, however, uncertain. Yole Développement sees four major challenges: technology, supply chain, cost and market acceptance. Crystal growth and finishing technologies still need to be optimized in order to guarantee stable performance and reduce the price gap with chemically strengthened glass like Corning’s Gorilla. Yole Développement’s analyst estimates that the current cost of manufacturing a sapphire display cover is around $22 but could drop to $12 and ultimately below $10. It remains to be seen if the bill of material increase vs. the $3 glass display cover will be absorbed by the OEM in exchange for increased market share or if the consumer will value the increased durability brought in by the sapphire cover and accept paying a premium.

sapphire substrate use

It is difficult to predict the success of sapphire in this application. However, Yole Développement expects that some OEMs will probe the market and introduce some models featuring sapphire by late 2013 – early 2014. Initial customer reaction will have a strong influence on the future of the technology. If successful, strong market traction could ease the funding for the more than $1.5 billion in capex needed to serve this industry and set up the supply chain to serve this application.

Glass cover lens manufacturers might seize the opportunity. Because of their vast existing glass finishing capacity that could be converted to process sapphire and their privileged access to leading smartphone OEMs, those companies could beat established sapphire finishing companies into this market. However, another scenario would see collaborations between some leading sapphire and cover lens makers in order to pool technical knowledge, capacity and customer access under the push of some smartphone OEMs.

In any case, if this opportunity materializes, it will transform the sapphire industry with new players emerging, and overall production capacity increasing by a factor of more than 7x.

Defense semiconductor and other applications represent 25% of the sapphire industry revenue

“These applications will bring in revenue of $240 million in 2013 and, excluding the display cover opportunity, will increase at a nine percent CAGR to US$366 million in 2018. Watch windows are currently the single largest application with revenue of US$120 million in 2012. Most applications are fairly mature with relatively low growth opportunity with the exception of the emerging mobile device camera lens cover and the aerospace market, driven by the F-35 jet fighter program and the emergence of sapphire-based transparent armors,” explains Eric Virey, senior analyst, Compound Semiconductors, at Yole Développement.

Most applications have their own “eco-systems” with preferred material vendors, finishing companies, growth technologies and barrier of entrance. The defense market, for example, is characterized by strong technical barriers in both growth and finishing, combined with export restrictions and national preferences. The semiconductor market is also fairly concentrated with two companies, Saint-Gobain Crystals and Gavish which both hold the bulk of the market due to their technology for growing the large sapphire tubes used in many plasma tools. However, competition is increasing on simpler parts like viewports and lift pins.

Industry transformation could open the door for new applications

Driven by the promise of large volumes for the LED industry, sapphire crystal growth and manufacturing capacity has increased by more than 8x in the last five years. In just the last two years, more than 80 companies have announced their intention to enter the industry, bringing the potential number of players to 130+ with more than 50 of these potential new entrants located in China.

The entrance of aggressive new players with large idle capacity is likely to challenge established players in many applications. Yole Développement expects those players to initially enter domestic and international markets with low barrier of entrance and later expand their reach as their technology matures.

Excess capacity and increased competition have created a challenging environment for sapphire makers. However, they also drove prices down dramatically and stimulated technology improvements to further reduce cost and improve capability (crystal sizes, shapes …). Yole Développement expects that ultimately, this will be favorable for the industry: lower price and improved crystal growth and finishing capabilities will open the door to a large gamut of new applications where sapphire has been considered for its performance but never adopted because of its cost.

CEA-Leti announced today that researchers Dominique Vicard and Jean Brun received the Avantex Innovation Prize for the use of the E-Thread technology in textiles.

The award was presented June 10 during the award ceremony at the opening of the Techtextil and Avantex Symposia in Frankfurt, Germany.

According to Avantex, the “innovation awards go to outstanding achievements in research, new materials, products, technologies and applications.”

E-Thread is a microelectronic packaging technology developed by Leti that allows for a direct connection of a chip to a set of two conductors, which can provide the functions of antenna, power and/or data bus. This allows a 10x improvement in size, assembly time and reliability compared to classic microelectronic packaging. The E-Thread assembly can then be incorporated inside a yarn and used by the textile and plastic industries using standard production tools. Electronics such as LEDs, RFIDs or sensors can then be truly integrated in materials and objects.

In choosing this technology for the innovation award, the Avantex jury said “electronics integrated in textiles during the textile processing and not simply by adding the components in a last step will be a significant step forward.” The jury also said the prize was awarded to “this development, as it shows that research and development is also for the textile industry of vital importance and that it can lead to the creation of new companies.”

E-Thread is one of the technologies used within the European FP7 PASTA project (Platform for Advanced Smart Textile Application), and is the key technology asset of the Primo1D startup company, that will be created by Leti during the second half of 2013.

Vicard previously won a 40,000-euro startup award from OSEO, the French organization committed to supporting entrepreneurship, for proposing embedding electronic functions in textile yarns using the E-Thread technology.

Samples of E-Thread will be on display during the symposia, Hall 3.1, stand B11.

Shipments of television sets in the United States declined by 11 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared to one year earlier, according to a TV Systems Intelligence update from information and analytics provider IHS.

U.S. TV shipments dropped to 6.6 million units, down from 7.4 million a year ago in the first quarter of 2012. Liquid-crystal display televisions (LCD TV) decreased by 7 percent, while plasma plunged 39 percent, as presented in the attached figure.

However, the news was not all bad: The average selling price (ASP) for LCD TVs increased 3 percent, driven by a recovery in consumer confidence and a focus on replacing main TV sets with more full-featured products and larger screen sizes.

The fall in the United States reflected the worldwide decrease of television shipments during the first quarter. However, global TV shipments declined far lower, down by less than 2 percent.

The contraction in global volumes was driven by the decline in the remaining markets for bulky analog cathode ray tube (CRT) sets as well as by the reduction in plasma demand. Other factors responsible for the decrease included a widespread cutback in LCD TV manufacturing volumes by major Japanese vendors, and a repositioning of the market toward fewer, larger-sized TV sets in the mature markets.

Consumers spend more as feature demand increases

As a result of the ASP increase for LCD TVs, revenue was relatively stable by comparison, with total TV revenue dropping by 11 percent in line with total shipments, while LCD TV revenue declined significantly less than shipments, by 4 percent.

For brands relying on the LCD market, this creates an opportunity to expand their margins in the highly competitive TV market.

“The U.S. market is starting to reposition toward higher-end TV sets,” said Veronica Thayer, analyst for consumer electronics & technology at IHS. “Now that most homes have at least one flat-panel TV, consumers have become more discerning in their tastes and place more value on features like light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting, supersized screens and interactive smart TVs.”

Supersized LCD TVs and LED lead the way

Supersized LCD TV sets larger than 50 inches in the diagonal dimension accounted for 27 percent of U.S. LCD TV unit shipments in the first quarter, up from 15 percent one year before.

Furthermore, these large sets represented over half of all U.S. LCD TV revenue, at 53 percent, up sharply from 39 percent one year earlier.

For top television manufacturers, such high-cost sets represent an opportunity to maintain pricing despite declining unit sales in the United States.

Primarily because of increased shipments of 50-inch and 60-inch sets, the ASP for LCD TVs in the United States increased year-on-year in the first quarter. The ASP stood at $704, up from $682 one year earlier.

Meanwhile, LED-backlit sets increased their share of U.S. TV unit shipments to 72 percent, up from 37 percent during the first quarter of 2012. LED sets accounted for 76 percent of total TV revenue, up from 52 percent.

Samsung and Vizio remain the top US TV brands in Q1

In terms of competitive positioning, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. earned the highest revenue from the U.S. market for all types of televisions and in the key LCD TV segment, despite strong gains by Vizio Inc.

South Korea’s Samsung during the first three months of 2013 accounted for 31 percent of overall U.S. television market revenue, up from 30 percent during the same period in 2012. The company also expanded its share of U.S. LCD TV revenue to 28 percent, up from 27 percent one year earlier.

Meanwhile, Vizio increased its share of TV revenue sharply, rising to 16 percent, up from 11 percent in 2012. The U.S.-based company also boosted its portion of U.S. LCD TV revenue to 18 percent, up from 14 percent one year earlier, due to the increase in number of large-screen-size TV models offered, particularly the very successful 60-inch, and helped by the brand’s entry into Best Buy.

In terms of volume, the squeeze on the total number of shipped TVs still favored Samsung, with 1.6 million units in the first quarter this year. However, Vizio managed to edge out Samsung on U.S. LCD TV volume during the period by a few thousand units.

“Samsung has retained its position as the leading premium television brand in the United States by capitalizing on demand for premium features, but Vizio is making strong moves in volumes and larger-sized models, although its current revenue is still lower,” Thayer added. “Ultimately, feature-rich sets and large screen sizes lead to higher TV ASPs, which can provide an opportunity for manufacturers to regain margins.”

 

CEA-Leti will present recent advances and a preview of future developments in micro- and nanotechnologies, followed by workshops on key technical fields, during Leti Innovation Days, June 25-28, on the MINATEC campus.

The gathering incorporates Leti’s two-day Annual Review, now in its 15th year. That event provides an update of developments from Leti’s labs and its success in transferring technology to industry.

The 15th Annual Review kicks off on June 25th with two plenary sessions:

  • Envisioning the Future, chaired by Leti CEO Laurent Malier, will include insights from industry leaders into the technological innovations that will shape the future.
  • Enabling the Future, chaired by Pierre-Damien Berger, Leti VP of business development and communication. Presentations will include Leti’s latest developments and the key enabling technologies that will drive advancements in a broad range of sectors.

June 26th presentations by Leti specialists and partners will cover security and safety, environment and health, green IT and nanoelectronics.

“This year’s review powerfully highlights the wide-ranging strengths of Leti’s offer, from continuous innovation to technology transfer and support for SMEs,” said Leti CEO Laurent Malier. “Leti last year demonstrated a new FD-SOI solution that offers a 40 percent improvement in power consumption and a 30 percent frequency improvement, at lower costs. Transferred to manufacturing, it delivered the first application processor product dedicated to smartphones exceeding 3 GHz. We also particularly expanded our actions for SMEs, with a specific initiative allowing them to benefit from the expertise of our researchers and engineers and to access our state-of-the-art equipment.”

The Annual Review will be followed on June 27-28 by five in-depth workshops on design for 3D, memory, photonics, imaging and nanopackaging.

Leti Innovation Days participants will include international and European decision-makers: CEOs, CTOs, marketing and strategy directors, R&D managers, IT and semiconductor companies, innovative SMEs, end-user companies, research institutes, startups and international press. Represented industries include advanced microelectronics, green IT, memory, imaging, LEDs and lighting, safety and security, and healthcare and the environment.

 

Fab equipment spending will grow two percent year-over-year  (US$ 32.5 billion) for 2013 and about 23 to 27 percent in 2014 ($41 billion) according to the May edition of the SEMI World Fab Forecast. Fab construction spending, which can be a strong indicator for future equipment spending, is expected to grow 6.5 percent ($6.6 billion) in 2013, followed by a decline of 18 percent ($5.4 billion) in 2014. The new World Fab Forecast report covers fab information on over 1,140 facilities, including such details as capacities, technology nodes, product types, and spending for construction and equipment for any cleanroom wafer facility by quarter.

Fab equipment spending for the second half of 2013 is expected to be much stronger with a 32 percent growth rate or $18.5 billion compared to the first half of 2013. The equipment spending increase in the second half is attributed to growing semiconductor demand and improving average selling price for chips. 2014 is expected to have about 23 to 27 percent growth year-over-year (YoY) to reach about $41 billion, which would be an all-time record.

Looking at product types, the largest amounts of spending on fab equipment in 2013 will come from the foundry sector, which increases by about 21 percent. This is driven mainly by capex increases by TSMC. The memory sector is expected to have an increase of only one percent — after a 35 percent decline in the previous year. The MPU sector is expected to grow by about five percent. A double-digit increase in the Analog sector in 2013 will still translate into low absolute dollar amounts, compared to the other sectors.  

 

Construction spending is a good indicator for more equipment spending.  Fab construction spending in 2013 is expected to be almost 15 percent growth YoY ($6.6 billion) with 38 known construction projects. Top spenders for fab construction in 2013 are TSMC and Samsung, who plan to spend between $1.5 and $2 billion each, followed by Intel, Globalfoundries and UMC. The SEMI World Fab Forecast report reveals more detail.

2014 shows a decline of about 18 percent ($5.4 billion) in construction spending with only 21 construction projects expected to be on-going. These construction projects include large fabs; some are 450mm-ready. 

Since the last fab database publication at the end February 2013 SEMI’s worldwide dedicated analysis team has made 389 updates to 324 facilities (including Opto/LED fabs) in the database. The latest edition of the World Fab Forecast lists 1,144 facilities (including 310 Opto/LED facilities), with 61 facilities with various probabilities starting production this year and in the near future. Seventeen new facilities were added and 8 facilities were closed.

The SEMI World Fab Forecast uses a bottom-up approach methodology, providing high-level summaries and graphs; and in-depth analyses of capital expenditures, capacities, technology and products by fab. Additionally, the database provides forecasts for the next 18 months by quarter.

Aledia today announced that solid-state lighting (SSL) industry veteran Dr. Bernhard Stapp has joined its board of directors.

Stapp brings more than a dozen years of executive experience in LED lighting technologies to Aledia, most recently in senior management positions at OSRAM.

As general manager and senior vice president of OSRAM AG’s SSL unit, Stapp was responsible for the company’s professional LED and OLED business. Earlier, as SSL vice president and general manager at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, he launched and managed the general-lighting LED business and oversaw launch of the world’s first OLED lighting products. Prior to that, Stapp was vice president and CTO of the semiconductor company, where he oversaw global LED, laser and OLED R&D. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of management positions in Siemens AG’s Corporate Technology division.

“Aledia’s mission is to bring fundamental change to the world’s lighting markets by making LED technology substantially more affordable and more versatile, with better performance and fewer limitations,” said Giorgio Anania, Aledia’s co-founder, president and CEO. “Bernhard has been a key player at the heart of the global LED industry since its inception, and also has an outstanding technical background. His unique perspective on this industry’s future will be invaluable as Aledia moves into the next stage of its evolution.”

WireLED, Aledia’s 3D microwire GaN-on-silicon technology, was developed at the CEA-Leti nanotech research institute in Grenoble. It addresses the basic technical and economic challenges facing LED lighting by allowing production of LEDs on inexpensive industry-standard 200mm silicon wafers using standard semiconductor processes and tools.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues decreased by 2.2 percent year over year to $295 billion in 2012, according to the latest version of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Semiconductor Application Forecaster (SAF). The industry witnessed a slowdown during the second half of 2012 on weak consumer spending across PCs, mobile phones, and digital televisions (DTV), as well as in the industrial and other market segments. The European economic crises and a slowdown in China also had an impact on global demand while the lackluster launch of Windows 8 failed to stimulate PC sales and turn the tide. Meanwhile, competitive suppliers from China continued to pressure average selling prices, dragging down overall revenue growth. IDC expects the semiconductor market to return to growth in 2013 with revenues forecast to increase by 3.5 percent this year.

IDC’s SAF tracks more than 120 semiconductor companies. Most companies saw their revenues decline during the year, including eight of the top ten companies. Only 17 companies, with revenues of a billion or more, grew at a rate above 5 percent last year. Among the 25 largest companies covered in the SAF, only seven had positive top-line growth, including: Qualcomm, Broadcom, NXP, NVIDIA, MediaTek, Apple, and Sharp Electronics. AllWinner, a tablet application processor supplier, was the fastest growing company in 2012.

The largest semiconductor company, Intel, saw its revenues decline to $50.0 billion in 2012, down 3 percent from 2011 largely due to weak PC demand, and minimal traction in tablets and smartphones. Samsung Electronics, the second largest supplier, saw revenues drop 6 percent on weak DTV demand, loss of market share at Apple, and volatile memory prices. Meanwhile, Qualcomm, the largest fabless semiconductor supplier, ranked third last year as revenues grew 34 percent to $13.2 billion due to its leadership in modem technology and success of its Snapdragon application processor in smartphones. Texas instruments, the number four supplier, saw revenues decline by 6 percent due to falling analog, DSP, and MPU revenues and the company’s exit from its wireless business. Rounding out the top 5, Toshiba revenues were off by 13 percent from the previous year due to declining revenues for its analog, ASSP, and memory products. Renesas, Hynix, Broadcom, STMicroelectronics, and Micron filled out the top 10 spots. From this group of companies, only Broadcom saw revenues grow last year. Combined, the top 10 vendors represented 52 percent of worldwide semiconductor revenues, declining 3 percent when compared to 2011. The top 25 semiconductor firms brought in $206 billion, declining 3 percent year over year.

Within the semiconductor device types, performance was mixed. Sensors and actuators grew the fastest at 11 percent year over year, but with 2012 revenues of $7 billion the segment only accounted for 2 percent of industry revenues. ASSPs, the largest category of semiconductors with 32 percent of the overall opportunity, grew by 4 percent for the year on strength in media, graphics, and application processors and RF and mixed-signal ASSPs. Finally, optoelectronics, with 6 percent of total semiconductor revenues, grew 5 percent, mostly from image sensors and LEDs. Revenues for microcomponents declined by 5 percent, driven by lower revenues for MPUs and MCUs. Memory, representing 17 percent of the industry, saw its revenues decline by 10 percent. Finally, Analog, which accounted for 7 percent of revenues last year, declined by 7 percent.

"Beyond the slowdown in end-market demand, the challenge for semiconductor companies is to zero in on their key value propositions. Whether that is in modem or connectivity technologies, sensors, mixed-signal processing, or power management, there are areas of the market showing strong potential. However, competing in crowded segments with little differentiation has contributed to the slowdown in semiconductor revenues," said Michael J. Palma, research manager, Semiconductors at IDC, who led the study and compiled the SAF results. "Large vendors have been going through a process of narrowing their product portfolios to focus resources on profitable lines where their IP and experience provide an edge in the market."

"As we mentioned in our Top 10 Predictions for the 2013 worldwide semiconductor market, investment in R&D and capital in the semiconductor industry remains very high and focused on innovation and addressing the competitive dynamics of a diverse set of industries that semiconductors support. In fact, the overall market landscape and reach of semiconductors continues to expand with the rise of Intelligent Systems and will play a critical role in the overall health and growth of the market," said Mario Morales, program vice president for enabling technologies and semiconductors.

IDC’s Semiconductor and Enabling Technologies research team manages the Worldwide Semiconductor Applications Forecaster database, which is a focal point for IDC’s semiconductor research efforts. This database contains revenue data collected from more than 120 semiconductor companies and forecasts the markets to 2017. Revenue for over twelve semiconductor device areas, four geographic regions, six major vertical markets, and over 90 system devices markets are also part of the SAF coverage.