Category Archives: Semiconductors

AG Semiconductor Services, LLC (AGSS), one of the largest global suppliers of used electronics manufacturing equipment and the leader in managing large scale turnkey projects, today announced that Michael (Mike) Mardesich has joined the company in the role of senior director of sales. An industry veteran, Mardesich is tasked with developing sales strategies, managing sales and contract remarketing services and managing AGSS’ global sales force.

“Mike brings energy and intensity that are ideally suited to support the expansion of our global market presence," said Julian Gates, a Managing Director of AGSS. "He is well known throughout the electronics industry; this experience and his skill set will help solidify AGSS as the leading provider of used equipment and customer solutions to the electronics manufacturing industry."

The company also announced that former head of sales Tim Johnson will transition laterally to focus on growing AGSS’ turnkey services as well as spearhead development of future revenue channels including products and services that support non-traditional IC manufacturing such as MEMS, compound semiconductor, LED and photovoltaic. In his new role as Senior Director, Johnson will continue to support sales, remarketing and value added services as well.

Mardesich has over 30 years of experience in management, sales and equipment valuations in the electronics manufacturing used equipment industry. Prior to joining AGSS, Mardesich was the Senior Vice President of Sales with GE Capital Global Electronics Services. He also held similar positions with Comdisco Electronics Group where he was a founding member. He was an original Board Member of the SEC/N used equipment consortium.

AG Semiconductor Services, LLC is a provider of second-hand electronics manufacturing equipment and services. The company specializes in reselling pre-owned semiconductor manufacturing, IC test/assembly and printed circuit board assembly equipment acquired from leading electronics manufacturers around the world.

MoSys, a provider of semiconductor solutions, today announced that Macnica Americas, a provider of semiconductor distribution and design services, will support the GigaChip Interface in its distribution and technology innovation business.

The GigaChip Interface (GCI) is a scalable, high-performance, serial protocol for chip-to-chip communications that is differentiated in efficiency and reliability, resulting in system-level benefits of reduced power, cost and complexity. Current implementations built with compatible CEI-11G or XFI SerDes electrical transport standards deliver up to 144Gb per second (Gbps) of full duplex data throughput using 16 SerDes lanes when running at a 10G rate. A key differentiator for the GCI protocol is high transport efficiency, even for small payloads. Alternative serial interfaces are typically less than 50 percent efficient when transferring 8 bit and 16 bit data, which means that they deliver less than half the performance at a given bandwidth. The combination of 90 percent transport efficiency, from small to large payloads, with power efficient short reach physical interconnect makes GCI ideal for co-processor, memory, or multi-chip communication. The interface also includes CRC error detection and automatic error recovery provisions to meet the high reliability requirements of enterprise, service provider, and mission-critical communications and compute applications. GCI is an open, royalty-free interface specification designed for use with MoSys’ Bandwidth Engine family of ICs and is suitable for any chip-to-chip interconnect.

“As a provider of turnkey FPGA design services, we have substantial expertise in high-speed communications protocols and networking, and have seen firsthand the pain points caused by the limitations of more traditional interface protocols,” said Marc Levy, Chief Technical Officer for Macnica Americas. “We believe that leveraging the GigaChip Interface for chip-to-chip communications in high-speed, high-density complex FPGA designs provides the performance, efficiency and reliability necessary to enable 100G systems and beyond.”

“Macnica Americas is one of North America’s leading providers of high-performance semiconductor design and distribution services. We are delighted to have Macnica’s support of the GigaChip Interface in its FPGA design services and technology innovation business,” said John Monson, Vice President of Marketing for MoSys. “Through our collaboration and combined expertise in high-speed communications protocols and networking, MoSys and Macnica are poised to provide powerful solutions that connect MoSys’ Bandwidth Engine ICs with leading FPGAs through the GigaChip Interface, while delivering on fast time-to-market requirements.”

MEMSIC, Inc., a MEMS solution provider, today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by IDG-Accel China Capital II, L.P. and its affiliates MZ Investment Holdings Limited and MZ Investment Holdings Merger Sub Limited, for $4.225 per share in cash. Affiliates of IDG currently hold approximately 19.5 percent of the company’s outstanding common stock. IDG and its affiliates will acquire all the outstanding shares of common stock of MEMSIC that are not currently owned by them, including shares underlying outstanding in-the-money equity awards, for approximately $88.5 million.

The price of $4.225 per share in cash represents a premium of:

143 percent over the $1.74 closing price of MEMSIC’s common stock on November 20, 2012, the last trading day before the company announced that it had received a non-binding proposal from IDG-Accel China Growth Fund II L.P. to acquire the company for $4.00 per share;

144 percent over its average closing share price over the 90 calendar days ended on that date; and

56 percent over the company’s closing share price of $2.71 on April 22, 2013.

The Board of Directors of MEMSIC, in approving the transaction, acted at the unanimous recommendation of a special committee, consisting of the company’s three independent directors, that was appointed in November 2012 to consider the IDG proposal and the company’s other strategic alternatives.

“The Special Committee and its advisors conducted a disciplined and independent process intended to ensure the best available outcome for our stockholders,” said MEMSIC’s Lead Director and Chairman of the Special Committee, Roger Blethen. “The Board of Directors approved the IDG transaction because it strongly believes, after carefully considering the company’s strategic alternatives, that it is in the best interest of MEMSIC stockholders and the best of the available alternatives. We believe the $4.225 price is fair and that making that value available to our stockholders immediately in cash is more favorable to them than the other alternatives available, including remaining independent.”

The company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Yang Zhao, and director Quan Zhou were not members of the Special Committee and did not participate in the deliberations of the Board of Directors approving the merger. Mr. Zhou is an affiliate of IDG. Dr. Zhao will remain employed by the company following the acquisition and will also participate as an equity investor in the acquiring company.

The merger agreement is subject to customary conditions, including a vote of the company’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2013.

Foley Hoag LLP acted as counsel to MEMSIC. RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor and Richards, Layton and Finger, P.A. acted as special legal counsel to the Special Committee. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as counsel to IDG.

Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, MEMSIC, Inc. provides advanced semiconductor sensor and integrated sensing system solutions based on MEMS technology and mixed signal circuit design. Its products include accelerometers, magnetic sensors and electronic compass solutions, integrated high performance inertial measurement units for industrial and avionics applications, MEMS flow sensing systems, and wireless sensing network systems.

SAMCO Inc, head quartered in Kyoto, Japan, has expanded its OPTO Films Research Laboratory in California’s Silicon Valley in order to strengthen its research structure and after-sale process support.

SAMCO relocate and expand Silicon Valley office

Placing an emphasis on interaction with cutting edge research SAMCO is expanding its research and development activities at its three global R&D centers – The ‘Kyoto Research and Development Center’; the Silicon Valley ‘OPTO Films Research Laboratory’; and ‘Cambridge Research Center’ located in England’s Cambridge University. 

SAMCO was the first Japanese venture company to open an R&D center in the Silicon Valley. The OPTO Films Research and Development Center in Silicon Valley was established in 1987 as SAMCO’s first overseas research and development center.  Since its establishment it has lead the research of carbon type materials such as diamond thin films, diamond like carbon (DLC), and materials for electrodes etc., as well as the development of thin film deposition systems.  Furthermore, the facility also plays an important role in joint research with universities.

Highlighting SAMCO’s plans for business expansion and the strengthening of its research and development structure, the new facility is about twice as large as the one it replaces. Furthermore, in order to maximize research efficiency, the laboratory is again located in the Silicon Valley, a hub of company research centers and ventures. 

The new laboratory is equipped with SAMCO CVD systems, dry etching systems, cleaning systems, and a suite of thin-film measurement systems.  Research will continue on thin films of carbon-based materials and new research will begin on MEMS fabrication for the bio-medical industries.  Recruitment of local researchers is also progressing, with plans for up to ten researchers to be based at the facility (currently six). 

Along with the expansion of the Silicon Valley facilities, SAMCO has also increased sales personnel in its East Coast sales and service office located in North Carolina’s ‘Research Triangle Park’.  The new OPTO films Laboratory will play an important role, as a demo laboratory, in supporting the expansion of North American sales.

Recent progress in the engineering of plasmonic structures has enabled new kinds of nanometer-scale optoelectronic devices as well as high-resolution optical sensing. But until now, there has been a lack of tools for measuring nanometer-scale behavior in plasmonic structures which are needed to understand device performance and to confirm theoretical models.

semiconductor microparticles“For the first time, we have measured nanometer-scale infrared absorption in semiconductor plasmonic microparticles using a technique that combines atomic force microscopy with infrared spectroscopy,” explained William P. King, an Abel Bliss Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MechSE) at Illinois. “Atomic force microscope infrared spectroscopy allows us to directly observe the plasmonic behavior within microparticle infrared antennas.” 

The article describing the research, “Near-field infrared absorption of plasmonic semiconductor microparticles studied using atomic force microscope infrared spectroscopy,” appears in Applied Physics Letters.

“Highly-doped semiconductors can serve as wavelength flexible plasmonic metals in the infrared,” noted Daniel M. Wasserman, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois. “However, without the ability to visualize the optical response in the vicinity of the plasmonic particles, we can only infer the near-field behavior of the structures from their far-field response. What this work gives us is a clear window into the optical behavior of this new class of materials on a length scale much smaller than the wavelength of light.”

The article compares near-field and far-field measurements with electromagnetic simulations to confirm the presence of localized plasmonic resonance. The article further reports high resolution maps of the spatial distribution of absorption within single plasmonic structures and variation across plasmonic arrays.

“The ability to measure near field behavior in plasmonic structures allows us to begin expanding our design parameters for plasmonic materials,” commented Jonathan Felts, a MechSE graduate student. "Now that we can measure the optical behavior of individual features, we can start to think about designing and testing more complex optical materials.”

The authors on the research are Jonathan Felts, Stephanie Law, Daniel M. Wasserman, and William P. King of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, along with Christopher M. Roberts and Viktor Podolskiy of the University of Massachusetts. The article is available online. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

The market for Bluetooth semiconductors is expected to boom by nearly 100 percent from 2011 to 2017, with the majority of the growth driven by demand for wireless combination integrated circuits (ICs) and mobile system-on-chip (MSoC) devices with integrated wireless connectivity that are used in mobile devices like smartphones and media tablets.

Worldwide shipments of ICs that include Bluetooth technology are set to rise to 3.1 billion units in 2017, up 91 percent from 1.6 billion in 2011, according to a new report entitled Bluetooth—Classic or Smart Ready  from IMS Research, now part of IHS. While shipments of standalone Bluetooth chips are substantial, the market is currently dominated by combination ICs that incorporate support for multiple wireless technologies in addition to Bluetooth. However, the fastest-growing segment of the Bluetooth chip market is MSoCs, whose shipments are expected to rise by a factor of 18 from 2012 to 2017.

The graph below presents the IHS forecast of global Bluetooth-enabled chip unit shipments.

Bluetooth semiconductor shipments to double

“Smartphones and media tablets are packing increasing capabilities into products that have a lower cost and a thinner form factor,” said Liam Quirke, connectivity analyst at IHS. “All this is driving demand for more highly integrated ICs, including Bluetooth-enabled connectivity chips and MSoCs. Most of the leading smartphone platforms already make use of integrated connectivity ICs, and increasingly will adopt Bluetooth-enabled MSoCs in the future.”

No blues for Bluetooth chips

Combination connectivity ICs accounted for 75 percent of total Bluetooth chip shipments in 2012. However, due to the rise of MSoCs, the combination chips will see their share of the Bluetooth market decline to 55 percent in 2017, although their shipments will continue to rise as the overall market expands.

By 2017, MSoCs will account for 23 percent of the market, up from just 2 percent in 2012 and zero in 2011.  Standalone devices’ share of the market largely will remain flat, declining to 21 percent in 2017, down from 24 percent in 2011.

Combo ICs at the cutting edge

Many of today’s most popular and advanced smartphones and tablets are employing combination connectivity ICs.

For example, Apple Inc.’s iPad Mini and iPhone 5 employ Broadcom Corp.’s BCM4334 single-chip, dual-band combo device, as revealed by a dissection of the products conducted by the IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service. The BCM4334 includes support for Wi-Fi and an FM radio receiver, along with Bluetooth.

Based on a virtual teardown, IHS iSuppli believes that Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 smartphone includes the Broadcom BCM4335, which integrates Bluetooth, along with the FM radio and a complete 5G Wi-Fi system.

MSoCs multiply

The MSoC takes the integration of combination chips to the next level, forming a single chip that incorporates the cellular baseband, applications processor and wireless connectivity.

The release of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 family of processors in 2012 integrated these various elements, with many incorporating both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. In these components, the digital portion of the connectivity IC is integrated into the SoC, taking advantage of benefits such as less power being required by the more advanced manufacturing process. The analog counterpart is situated in a companion IC, which includes components for both Wi-Fi and FM radio.

“MSoCs benefit manufacturers by reducing design complexity while providing lower-cost mobile platform solutions,” Quirke noted. “IHS is projecting that lower-end smartphones will be quick to adopt such solutions.”

Reinventing Intel


April 19, 2013

Intel logoIntel is looking to reinvent itself.

With PC shipments reportedly in free fall, the company reported a sharp decline in its quarterly profits last week, which isn’t surprising, given that the company’s PC chip division accounted for 64 percent of its total revenue and 89 percent of its operating income in 2012. The company reported net income to $2.05 billion, a decline of 25 percent from $2.74 billion in the period last year.  However, analysts at IHS believes Intel has the innovation to stay on top this year, but other reports from decision makers at the semiconductor chip giant have indicated that Intel might have something new up its sleeves.

Uncertain environment at Intel

Intel became the world’s largest semiconductor maker after developing a partnership with Microsoft, and together the two companies have dominated the PC industry for 25 years. But 2013 is proving to be treacherous for the PC industry. The previous IHS forecast predicted global PC shipments would rise by 3.4 percent in 2013. However, given the dismal results in the first quarter, it appears that shipments are unlikely to achieve growth for the year. IHS downgraded its forecast for worldwide PC shipments to be flat at best, but the market is more likely to suffer a 1 percent to 2 percent decline. This follows a dismal 2012, when global PC shipments decreased by 3.3 percent, the first decline in 12 years.

“The PC Industry is facing major challenges as it struggles to find a place in the consumer’s budget amid the rising popularity of the lower-priced media tablet,” said Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for compute platforms at IHS. “Windows 8 has yet to trigger a new PC replacement cycle. While there have been many new product introductions intended to revitalize the market, like the ultrathin mobile PCs and convertibles with touch screens, it seems consumers have yet to discover the return on investment for these higher-priced systems.”

For the most part, Intel reacted with great agility to weakening demand for its products, cutting down its inventories very rapidly in the fourth quarter of 2012 to avoid being stuck with excess stockpiles, according to IHS. The company in the fourth quarter was the most aggressive of all semiconductor suppliers in reducing its inventories, cutting them by 11 percent, or $585 million, compared to the third quarter of 2012—the largest decrease on a dollar basis of any chipmaker during the quarter. Intel’s inventory liquidation partly was due to a reduction in production as the company migrated to a new process technology for manufacturing its chips: 14nm lithography.

Sales of netbooks, a product Intel dominated with its Atom family of low-end processors, have been badly impacted by the downturn in the PC market as well as the growth in the media tablet.  Netbook shipments this year are forecast to amount to just 3.97 million units, down a gut-wrenching 72 percent from 14.1 million units in 2012.

The demand for Intel’s other big source of revenue, chips for computer servers, is evolving, too. Basic servers are relying more and more on cloud computing, creating opportunities for new competitors to develop cheaper designs as the simpler method drives down prices (and, ultimately and unfortunately, profit margins).

Mobile devices and an unexpected move: The surprising bet that could save Intel

Despite Intel’s travails, IHS says the company is expected to continue to maintain its leadership in the global semiconductor market at least through 2013. However, Intel is betting on investments in the mobile market and, surprisingly, pay-TV to carry it even further than that.

According to the New York Times, Intel had been criticized for its lethargic reaction to the rise in the mobile market. Intel in 2012 held a 5 percent share of the market for digital baseband and applications processors used in mobile phones and other mobile devices. Intel is pushing to expand this product line this year. Aside from its legacy Infineon business, Intel had seen some design win activity from its Atom product line in smartphones from Lenovo, Motorola and various Chinese brand OEMs. Furthermore, Intel has introduced its LTE platform.

“IHS expects Intel to continue to attempt to build off these early wins and ramp penetration in the mobile platform market—specifically in smartphones,” said Francis Sideco, senior director for consumer electronics and communications technologies at IHS. “However, even if Intel is successful in this area in 2013, it won’t enjoy rapid growth, but rather slow and steady progress. The company faces significant challenges because of the momentum and positioning of strong incumbents such as Qualcomm, which holds a market share in the mobile-phone semiconductor business that is currently seven times larger than Intel’s.”

However, its greatest departure is its plans for selling a television set-top box and subscription service, which Intel officials say will offer enough regular television content to serve as a substitute for a cable subscription. Variety magazine’s Andrew Wallenstein recently spoke with Erik Huggers, head of Intel Media, the company’s most secretive division, to get the inside scoop on what Intel plans to offer.  Huggers didn’t reveal much to Wallenstein, but here’s what we know:

  • Intel intends to allow subscribers to purchase a package of broadcast and cable channels that will be supplemented by various VOD options. The package will also be available across mobile devices.
  • Intel will not be offering a la carte channels. The programming partners (such as Time Warner, News Corp., Disney, Viacom, etc.) will never go for that. But Intel has also hinted there might be more flexibility in the bundles of channels offered, as opposed to what consumers get with basic cable.
  • Intel has also made clear that its new device is not expected to come in at a lower price point than most other pay-TV services. Instead, what will make Intel’s device unique is a user experience that is “touted as a quantum leap over the traditional multichannel set-ups that have been rendered anachronistic by innovators like Apple and Netflix.”
  • Intel has confirmed that the device will come with a camera that will recognize which viewer in a household is watching so as to personalize the programming (and presumably advertising) to individual tastes. But don’t worry, the company made clear the feature can be turned off.

New Intel leadership could also play a role in its reinvention

And in the midst of the chaotic and uncertain technological revolution, Intel is also scrambling to find a new leader. In November, Paul Otellini, who had been CEO since 2005, caught everyone off guard when he announced his resignation, saying that it is time to transfer Intel’s helm to a new generation of leadership. Otellini declined to provide further information on why he was leaving just three years short of retirement age.

While Intel has yet to indicate a main candidate for the role, Chairman Andy Bryant may offer insight into what Intel is looking for. The New York Times reported that Bryant tells employees at meetings that Intel must fundamentally change, even if the computer chip maker still has what it takes to succeed in engineering and manufacturing.

In order to meet the rapidly growing business demands in the Chinese market and further expand the mass market in that region, Freescale Semiconductor announced today that the company plans to open ten new sales offices covering key areas across the mainland area. The new sales offices will include experienced sales and technical teams to support the needs of its regional customers.

Freescale China has branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Qingdao and Hong Kong. The company recently opened new sales offices in Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hangzhou and plans to open another six sales offices by the end of this year in Xiamen, Chongqing, Changchun, Dalian, Zhuhai and Changsha. By 2014, Freescale China’s offices are expected to span nine provinces and four municipalities across the mainland area, covering the majority of China’s domestic customer base.

“The Asia-Pacific market, led by China, is not only one of Freescale’s fastest growing markets in the world but also one of the most important ones,” said Dr. Kai Wang, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Asia-Pacific region. “We are planning to add these new sales offices to allow us to further enhance our ability to serve a broader customer base in China, especially the small and medium-sized customers.”

Late last year, Freescale announced five core product areas: microcontrollers (MCUs), digital networking, automotive MCUs, analog and sensors and RF. Freescale also realigned its resources to focus on high-growth areas like China and select opportunities in Korea, Taiwan and Japan. All of these efforts were undertaken to help the company grow in these key markets.

Freescale is also strengthening its strategic relationships with independent design companies. Last year, Freescale signed a “Connected Partner” agreement with ZLG-MCU, a leader in the Chinese domestic embedded product field. Freescale also recently formed a strategic partnership with Lierda Science and Technology, a leading company in the local embedded product field focusing on the Internet of Things.

Freescale entered the China market in 1992 and currently has approximately 4,000 employees in the region. In addition to the sales offices, the company has a package testing factory in Tianjin and five R&D centers located in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Tianjin.

Freescale Semiconductor focuses on embedded processing solutions, providing industry leading products that are advancing the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets.The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing and sales operations around the world.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.14 billion in orders worldwide in March 2013 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, according to the March Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.  A book-to-bill of 1.14 means that $114 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2013 was $1.14 billion. The bookings figure is 5.9 percent higher than the final February 2013 level of $1.07 billion, and is 21.3  percent lower than the March 2012 order level of $1.45 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2013 was $1.00 billion. The billings figure is 2.8 percent higher than the final February 2013 level of $974.7 million, and is 22.2   percent lower than the March 2012 billings level of $1.29 billion.

“Continued improvement in three-month average bookings for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment is reflected in the March figures, which indicate a 23 percent improvement over the prior quarter," said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “While the overall expansion of new manufacturing capacity remains muted, we see continued investment in technology upgrades by the world’s chip makers.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

  Billings
(3-mo. avg)		 Bookings
(3-mo. avg)		 Book-to-Bill
October 2012 985.5 742.8 0.75
November 2012 910.1 718.6 0.79
December 2012 1,006.1 927.4 0.92
January 2013 968.0 1,076.0 1.11
February 2013 (final) 974.7 1,073.5 1.10
March 2013 (prelim) 1,001.6 1,137.1 1.14

The data contained in SEMI’s release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

SEMI is the global industry association serving the nano- and micro-electronic manufacturing supply chains.

Increasing HD video content, social networking, shared data via the cloud, low power consumption, and “instant on” features continue to drive growth of consumer, communication, and computing devices that use NAND flash memory. While applications are many, IC Insights forecasts smartphones, tablet computers, and solid-state drives (SSDs) to be among the biggest users of NAND flash memory in 2013 (see figure).

NAND flash memory

Smartphones are forecast to account for 26 percent of the $30.0 billion NAND flash memory market in 2013.  (The NAND flash market is forecast to grow 12 percent in 2013 from $26.8 billion in 2012).  According to data from IC Insights’ 2013 IC Market Drivers Report, approximately 56 percent of total cellphone shipments in 2013 (975 million of 1,745 total shipments) are forecast to be smartphones, up from 750 million or 42 percent in 2012 and 30 percent in 2011.  This is significant because smartphones contain as much as 9x more NAND flash than a basic or enhanced cellphone.

Another high-volume application for flash memory in 2013 is solid-state drives, which are built with high-density NAND flash chips and feature standard mass-storage interfaces that are found on hard-disk drives.  SSDs are forecast to account for 13 percent of NAND flash memory sales this year.

SSDs are built in form-factor sizes that are identical to hard-disk drives (such as 1.8- and 2.5-inch modules) so they can be easily plugged into existing PC and notebook designs.  In recent years, SSD-storage capacity has quadrupled annually, and now it appears that solid-state drives are becoming serious challengers to conventional hard-disk storage in portable computers.  Recently, SSD-storage solutions have gained favor in large server computers, which stand to benefit from the faster read/write speeds of flash-memory-built drives as well as reduced power consumption.  Notebook PCs, installed car navigation systems, industrial equipment, and digital video recorders (DVRs) are a few additional applications that are being targeted for SSDs.

Tablet PCs and HHP devices—handheld players such as music/video players and handheld game systems—are expected to be significant consumers of NAND flash in 2013 as well. Tablet PCs are the fastest growing segment of the PC market and represent one of the fastest-growing consumer devices of all time. Shipments of tablet PC devices like the iPad grew to 117 million units in 2012, almost double the 65 million shipped in 2011.  Tablet PC shipments are forecast to reach 167 million units in 2013.  Leading tablet PCs typically feature 16GB of NAND flash as a starting point.