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Each year, Solid State Technology turns to industry leaders to hear viewpoints on the technological and economic outlook for the upcoming year. Read through these expert opinions on what to expect in 2017.

Driving the industry forward with materials engineering

Raja_Prabu_fullPrabu Raja, vice president and general manager, Patterning and Packaging Group, Applied Materials, Inc.

Over the past few years, the industry has made remarkable progress in bringing 3D chip architectures to volume production. In 2017, we will continue to see exciting technology innovations for scaling 3D NAND devices to 64 layers, ramping the 10nm process node into volume manufacturing and increasing the adoption of highly integrated chip packages.

With the transition to the 3D and sub-10nm era, the semiconductor world is changing from lithography-based scaling to materials-enabled scaling. This shift requires multiple new materials and capabilities in selective processing.

The magnitude and pace of these changes are truly disruptive. For example, with 3D NAND materials innovations for hard mask deposition and hard mask etch are essential. The challenge is to build high aspect ratio vertical structures with uniform profiles from the top to the bottom as more layers are added. Selective removal processes can remove targeted materials in vertical and horizontal structures without damage or residue throughout the stack.

For logic/foundry, the introduction of the 10nm process node in volume manufacturing brings significant growth in the number of patterning steps. This trend will increase even more for 7nm and below designs. Patterning these advanced nodes requires innovative etch capabilities to deliver feature-scale uniformity with low line edge roughness. Selective processes and alternative manufacturing schemes will also be needed as the industry seeks solutions for layer-to-layer vertical alignment. We expect this to result in a two-fold increase in the number of materials to be deposited and removed.

Finally, the industry will continue to adopt new and improved packaging schemes for enabling increased device performance, lower power consumption and to deliver desired form factors. In 2016, we saw the volume adoption of Fan-Out packaging in mobile devices and this trend is expected to grow further in 2017. The high performance computing segment will pursue 2.5D interposer and/or 3D TSV packaging schemes for higher memory bandwidth, lower latency and better power efficiency.

Applied Materials is focused on delivering game-changing selective process technologies and materials innovations to help solve the industry’s toughest challenges.

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Demand for TV panels in terms of area is forecast to reach 143 million square meters in 2017, up 8 percent from 2016, contributing to a 6 percent growth in the overall display market, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

“Owing to the increase in average TV screen sizes demanded by consumers, TV panel makers will enjoy a high growth in display area demand despite sluggish growth in terms of quantity,” said Alex Kang, senior analyst of display research for IHS Markit. The average TV panel size exceeded 40 inches in 2016 for the first time ever, and it will increase further by 1.3 inches to reach 42.6 inches in 2017. “As consumers show a preference for larger display models and as set makers promote products with higher profitability, the average size of TV panels should continue to increase.”

According to the IHS Markit Display Long-Term Demand Forecast Tracker, TV panels accounted for about 70 percent of the entire display demand in terms of area in 2016, while IT panels, which include those for desktop monitors, notebooks and tablet PCs, made up 18 percent. In contrast, IT panel demand is expected to remain flat in 2017, while mobile phone display demand is expected to grow 10 percent to 14 million square meters during the same period.

“Although the increase in the average smartphone screen size is propelling area demand for mobile phone displays, its impact to the entire display market should be minimal as mobile phones make up only 7 percent of the entire display market,” Kang said.

2017 area panel demand

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global large area displays market is expected to reach USD 78.41 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of close to 2%.

This research report titled ‘Global Large Area Displays Market 2017-2021’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. The report takes into consideration the unit shipments of liquid crystal display (LCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED)/active matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays greater than 9 inches in size and the revenues generated from their sales during the forecast period.

OLED displays are thinner, lighter, more flexible, and emit brighter colors than other existing display technologies such as LCDs. Unlike LCDs, these do not require a backlight and have a fast response time of 0.01 milliseconds. OLED displays are flexible. Curved OLED TVs and other devices that utilize this feature offer a better viewing angle to users. OLED displays consume less power because of the phosphorescent organic material, which has better conversion rate than LCDs.

Technavio’s hardware and semiconductor analysts categorize the global large area displays market into the following segments by application:

  • Televisions
  • Notebooks
  • Monitors
  • Tablets
  • Others (public displays and digital signage)

The top three application segments of the global large area displays market are:

Global large area television displays market

In 2016, the television segment dominated the market, accounting for a share of 39.2% in terms of unit shipments, primarily because of strong growth of 4K TVs of 40 inches and larger. In 2015, many manufacturers introduced 4K TVs of size 50 inches and above.

According to Chetan Mohan, a lead displays research analyst from Technavio, “Broadcast companies such as Netflix have already started broadcasting 4K UHD content because of the popularity of this format. In 2014, Netflix began streaming popular TV series House of Cards and Breaking Bad in UHD format, which is likely to boost the demand for 4K televisions.”

Global large area notebook displays market

The new operating system and the calculating platform drive the market for new notebooks. Windows 10, which was launched in the third quarter of 2015, generated renewed interest among notebook users. This resulted in more than 10% growth in unit shipment compared with second quarter of 2015.

“Vendors including Dell, Lenovo, and HP recorded a quarterly rise in the third quarter of 2015. Apple, which launched 12-inch MacBook Air in the second quarter of 2015, witnessed growing demand in the third quarter,” says Chetan.

Global large area monitor displays market

Monitors were the third largest segment in 2016, accounting for 19.45% of the market share. The majority of desktop monitors use LCD technology. LCDs consume low power, less space, and are lighter compared with CRT displays. LCD monitors are mainly used by enterprises for office use and by consumers for video and audio entertainment use. However, advances in technology and the rising demand for HD and UHD content as compared with SD content are likely to drive the demand for OLED/AMOLED displays for PC monitors, especially gaming PCs.

Unlike consumers, enterprises that purchase monitors for office use do not put enough emphasis on technological aspects such as high resolution and wide-viewing angle. Technavio analysts expect that Microsoft’s Windows 10 desktop will revive the PC market during the forecast period.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavio’s research analysts in this report are:

  • LG Display
  • Samsung Display
  • Innolux
  • AU Optronics
  • BOE Technology

Semiconductors, which are the very basic components of electronic devices, have improved our lives in many ways. They can be found in lighting, displays, solar modules and microprocessors that are installed in almost all modern day devices, from mobile phones, washing machines, and cars, to the emerging Internet of Things. To innovate devices with better functionality and energy efficiency, researchers are constantly looking for better ways to make them, in particular from earth-abundant materials using eco-friendly processes. Plastic or organic electronics, which is made from organic carbon-based semiconductors, is one such group of technologies that can potentially provide flexible, light-weight, large-area and additively-manufactured devices, which are attractive for some types of applications.

To make high-performance devices however, good ohmic contacts with low electrical resistances are required to allow the maximum current to flow both ways between the electrode and the semiconductor layers. Recently, a team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully developed conducting polymer films that can provide unprecedented ohmic contacts to give superior performance in plastic electronics, including organic light-emitting diodes, solar cells and transistors. The research findings have been recently published in the journal Nature.

Dr. Png Rui-Qi (left), Mervin Ang (middle) and Cindy Tang (right) working on conducting polymers that can provide unprecedented ohmic contacts for better performance in a wide range of organic semiconductor devices. Credit: Seah Zong Long

Dr. Png Rui-Qi (left), Mervin Ang (middle) and Cindy Tang (right) working on conducting polymers that can provide unprecedented ohmic contacts for better performance in a wide range of organic semiconductor devices. Credit: Seah Zong Long

The key these researchers discovered is to be able to design polymer films with the desired extreme work functions needed to generally make ohmic contacts. Work function is the minimum amount of energy needed to liberate an electron from the film surface into vacuum. The researchers showed that work functions as high as 5.8 electron-volts and as low as 3.0 electron-volts can now be attained for films that can be processed from solutions at low cost.

“To design such materials, we developed the concept of doped conducting polymers with bonded ionic groups, in which the doped mobile charges – electrons and holes – cannot dissipate away because their counter-balancing ions are chemically bonded,” explained Dr Png Rui-Qi, a senior research fellow from the Department of Physics at the NUS Faculty of Science, who led the device research team. “As a result, these conducting polymers can remain stable despite their extreme work functions and provide the desired ohmic contacts.”

This breakthrough is the result of a collaboration with the materials chemistry team led by Associate Professor Chua Lay-Lay from the Department of Chemistry at the NUS Faculty of Science, the physics team led by Associate Professor Peter Ho from the Department of Physics from the same faculty, and scientists from Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.

“The lack of a general approach to make ohmic contacts has been a key bottleneck in flexible electronics. Our work overcomes this challenge to open a path to better performance in a wide range of organic semiconductor devices,” explained Dr Png Rui-Qi. “We are particularly thrilled about this Singapore-led innovation,” she added.

Commenting on the significance of the work, Assoc Prof Chua said, “The close partnership of the chemists and physicists has made this innovation possible. We are now working with our industrial partner to further develop this technology.”

Chinese panel manufacturers shipped more than one million AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) smartphone displays for the first time in the third quarter of 2016. While the Chinese makers only make up less than 2 percent of the AMOLED smartphone panel market in terms of shipments, hitting the one million unit mark in a quarter shows significant improvements in their manufacturing technology, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

According to the IHS Markit Smartphone Display Market Tracker, total shipments of AMOLED displays for smartphones set a new record of 101 million units in third quarter 2016. While Samsung Display continues to retain its dominant position with 99.7 million units, three Chinese panel makers — EverDisplay Optronics (EDO), Tianma Micro-electronics and Govisionox Optoelectronics — shipped 1.4 million units for the quarter, representing a sharp increase from the approximate 590,000 units in the previous quarter.

“Strong demand from Chinese smartphone brands, especially OPPO and Vivo, helped boosting overall AMOLED panel demand significantly,” said Terry Yu, principal analyst of small and medium displays for IHS Markit. “Many Chinese smartphone makers, such as Meizu, Gionee, Lenovo, Huawei and even Xiaomi, are planning to adopt AMOLED panels in their devices. This gives Chinese display suppliers a great opportunity to gain more orders, improve their mass production yield rate and enhance their product reliability.”

According to IHS Markit, AMOLED display penetration among Chinese smartphone brands is expected to increase from 8 percent in 2015 to 13.6 percent in 2016. However, due to the tight supply of AMOLED panels from Samsung Display, many domestic smartphone brands are turning to local Chinese panel makers. For example, after Xiaomi and Huawei failed to secure their orders of AMOLED panels from Samsung, they struck partnerships with EDO, the leading AMOLED panel suppliers in China, with the promise of mass production and product reliability. EDO, which started operating its Shanghai-based Gen 4.5 AMOLED fab in 2014, shipped one million units of AMOLED panels in the third quarter of 2016, up from 0.2 million units in the first quarter. Similarly, Tianma and Govisionox have also developed business relationships with ZTE as its secondary supplier of AMOLED smartphone displays.

“Chinese panel makers are still too small to threaten Samsung’s dominant position, but they still play an important role as a second or third source for major smartphone brands in China,” Yu said. “Furthermore, as Samsung Display shifts its focus to the flexible OLED, Chinese panel makers are expected to expand their shares in the rigid OLED panel market.”

Chinese_AMOLED_panel_shipments

As more smartphone manufacturers build designs using flexible display technology, shipments of flexible displays are expected to reach 139 million units in 2017, an increase of 135 percent compared to 2016. According to IHS Markit (NASDAQ: INFO), flexible displays are expected to comprise 3.8 percent of total display unit shipments in 2017.

Vivo and Xiaomi launched their first smartphones with flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays in 2016, while many other manufacturers have plans to develop their own foldable (or bendable, dual-edge curved) smartphone designs. In particular, Apple is expected to launch its new iPhone using flexible AMOLED display in 2017, which would dramatically drive up expected demand for flexible AMOLED panels. Flexible AMOLEDs are expected to comprise 20 percent of total OLED display unit shipments in 2017.

IHS_Markit_Flexible_display_shipments_forecast

“During 2016, many smartphone manufacturers have pressured display panel makers to supply them with more flexible AMOLEDs for their new smartphone designs, however, due to limited production capacity only a few players had their orders met in quantity,” said Jerry Kang, principal analyst of display research for IHS Markit.

However, tight supply conditions are expected to change in 2017 once Samsung Display and LG Display start operating their new fabs to increase supply capacity for flexible displays, resulting in earlier availability of new smartphone entrants in the market.

“With new form factors entering the marketplace next year to entice consumers, smartphone manufacturers will find themselves locked in a fierce battle with one another as they jostle to win marketshare for their new smartphone models featuring dual-edge curved and foldable AMOLED displays,” Kang said.

According to the latest IHS Markit Flexible Display Market Tracker report, smartphones took up 76 percent of the total flexible display supply in 2016 with the remainder taken up by smartwatches. However, flexible display supply for other applications, including tablet PCs, near-eye virtual reality devices, automotive monitors and OLED TVs, is not expected to be significant until 2023.

“Consumer device manufacturers will eventually move from conventionally designed flat and rectangular form factors to the latest curved, foldable or rollable screens, but only once their product roadmap for newer, innovative devices becomes more mature,” Kang said.

The semi-annual IHS Markit Flexible Display Market Tracker covers the latest flexible display market forecast, and panel manufacturer’s strategies, technologies and patent trends.

Kateeva Co-Founder, President and COO, Dr. Conor Madigan

Kateeva Co-Founder, President and COO, Dr. Conor Madigan

Kateeva, the OLED production equipment leader, today announced that President and COO, Conor Madigan, Ph.D., was named “Inventor of the Year” for 2016 by the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA). To date, he is listed as an inventor on more than 100 issued and pending patents.

Madigan was recognized for his pioneering work to develop a manufacturing equipment solution to mass produce Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). OLED technology has revolutionized the flat panel display industry. It’s the gateway technology for flexible displays that enable bendable, foldable and even roll-able consumer electronics products. In a breakthrough for the display industry, Madigan and his team at Kateeva commercialized the industry’s first inkjet printer engineered specifically to mass produce OLEDs. The solution, called the YIELDjet platform, made high-volume OLED production cost-effective for the first time, giving display manufacturers an essential tool to accelerate their adoption of the transformative technology.

The SVIPLA has extended the annual award since 1977. Recipients include individuals whose innovations have changed industries and created new ones. Among them are the inventors of the barcode, the blue LED, and other esteemed contributors to the advancement of science and technology.

Madigan co-founded Kateeva in 2008 following a decade of OLED-related research at MIT, where he also earned his Ph.D. degree. Since then, he and the Kateeva team have accumulated more than 200 issued and pending patents surrounding the YIELDjet platform and related products.

“Given the immense talent in Silicon Valley, selecting a winner was no easy task,” said SVIPLA President, Carlos Rosario. “Conor is an obvious choice, however. Not just because his inventions helped set the display industry on a game-changing technology transition, or that he’s perpetually contemplating ways to enable new display breakthroughs. But also because he combined technical ingenuity with practical execution. That’s the difficult part. Pretty soon, when consumers can fold their laptops into a wallet-size square, or unfurl their smartphones to form a sturdy notebook, they’ll owe much of that innovation to Kateeva. We admire how Conor has built a strong company to commercialize Kateeva IP, and we’re thrilled to name him “Inventor of the Year”.

“I’m honored to be recognized by the SVIPLA,” said Madigan. “Considering the caliber of previous recipients, I’m also humbled. We’re proud of our role in helping display manufacturers shift to cost-effective OLED mass production and seize hold of a large new market opportunity. We did this in the time-honored Silicon Valley way: by applying innovation to solve difficult technical problems that conventional technology solutions couldn’t master. Thanks to the efforts of everyone at Kateeva, we were able to deliver a complex product to customers that is highly enabling and differentiated by valuable IP. For that collective achievement, I share the accolade with my colleagues.”

YIELDjet is trademarked by Kateeva, Inc.

Restructuring of older display fabs, migration to larger-sized LCD TV panels and business strategy adjustments are some of the factors prompting LCD TV panel manufacturers to set a conservative shipment goal of 258.4 million units in 2017, a 1.2 percent decline from 2016, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

LCD_TV_Display_Makers_Target

“LCD TV panel unit shipments in 2016 are forecast to decline 5 percent on year-on-year basis with 261.6 million. Among the top six panel makers, BOE and China Star continue to make the largest contribution to the growth of TV panel shipments in 2016, helped by a shortage of 32-inch panels,” said Deborah Yang, director of display supply chain at IHS Markit.

“However, this is not enough to offset declines in shipments from South Korean and Taiwanese panel makers, all of which are undergoing the process of moving to larger panel sizes, facing production yields issues, or experiencing drastic declines in demand for 23.6-inch panels.”

According to the latest IHS Markit TV Display Intelligence Service report, LCD TV panel makers continue to remain cautious with their business plans going into 2017, even as the likes of BOE, Innolux and China Star are contributing to new capacities. BOE’s shipments have shown positive growth in past years; however, the company is projecting a decline of 14 percent year-on-year in 2017 due to a production shift to larger panel sizes, in particular 43-inch and 55-inch displays, where production capacity will be shared with IT panels.

Instead of ramping up the current supply of TV panels, panel makers are now busy diversifying into larger-sized panels and other premium products, such as 4K panels. According to IHS Markit analysis, TV panel makers are planning to ship 63 million units of 4K panels in 2016, making up a 24 percent in UHD (ultra-high definition) penetration, and later to 86.4 million units in 2017, increasing their UHD penetration to 33 percent.

LG Display remains the world’s top maker of TV panels with a target of over 51 million unit shipments. Innolux will take the second largest position with 46.6 million units. However, should Innolux decides to produce smaller-size TV panels as well as to utilize its relationship with Sharp’s fabs in Japan, its unit shipments could be expected to jump to 53 million, even eclipsing LG Display to gain top spot.

HKC, a sizeable LCD TV OEM and ODM maker, which recently entered the LCD TV display market with backing from the Chinese government, represents a new vertical integration business model for the industry.

“While TV makers are suffering a profit loss, HKC’s vertical integration business model could prove that a certain level of profit can be maintained through in-house supply in spite of TV panel price fluctuations. However, the biggest challenge for HKC is whether it can overcome the technical challenge that comes with ramping up a brand new fab,” Yang said.

The overall utilization rate at fabrication plants (fabs) used for display panel production is expected to reach 90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 7 percentage points from the same period in the previous year, and up 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

2016_Display_Panel_Manufacturing_Monthly_Utilization_Rates_-_IHS_Markit

One of the contributing factors for driving up the fab utilization rate is the sudden rise in demand for larger TV panels, notably in 2016, when the average area size of overall TV panels increase by 1.9 inches from the previous year, raising the unit area by about 10 percent.

TV display panels, which account for about 70 percent of overall display area demand, suffered a fall in unit demand in recent times, but the area demand is expected to increase by 6 percent in 2016. A rise in TV panel demand is now projected to raise overall display panel area demand by 5 percent in 2016 compared to a year ago.

As a result, display panel makers are increasing the utilization rate of Gen 7 fabs and later Gen fabs, used mainly to produce TV panels, and can be expected to stay high in the fourth quarter of 2016 and beyond, according to the latest IHS Markit Display Production & Inventory Tracker report.

“Such a high utilization rate would suggest that these fabs are running at full loading, considering the remaining capacity is already allotted for test runs and maintenance,” said Alex Kang, senior analyst of display research at IHS Markit.

“This increase in display panel area demand has allowed panel manufacturers to sustain inventory levels that are considered healthy, and has prevented a sharp drop in utilization rate this year,” Kang added.

IHS Markit expects that panel manufacturers’ year-end panel inventory level will remain healthy at under four weeks. This will allow panel manufacturers to maintain a high utilization rate for a certain period of time regardless of demand fluctuations with sufficient space to pile up extra production stock.

With a healthy inventory outlook, panel manufacturers are projected to reach a fab utilization rate of between 85 and 90 percent in the first quarter of 2017 after the year-end peak season, which is up by between 5 and 10 percentage points since the first quarter of 2016.

 

IC Insights will release its November Update to the 2016 McClean Report later this month and will release its 20th anniversary edition of The McClean Report in January of next year.  The November Update includes the latest semiconductor industry capital spending forecast, a detailed forecast of the IC industry by product type through 2020, and a look at the top-25 semiconductor suppliers expected for 2016. The top-20 2016 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin.

The forecasted top-20 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O S D—optoelectronic, sensor, and discrete) sales ranking for 2016 is shown in Figure 1.  It includes eight suppliers headquartered in the U.S., three in Japan, three in Taiwan, three in Europe, two in South Korea, and one in Singapore, a relatively broad representation of geographic regions.

The top-20 ranking includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and five fabless companies. If the three pure-play foundries were excluded from the top-20 ranking, U.S.-based fabless supplier AMD ($4,238 million), China-based fabless supplier HiSilicon ($3,762 million), and Japan-based IDM Sharp ($3,706 million), would have been ranked in the 18th, 19th, and 20th positions, respectively.  In August 2016, China-based contract assembler Foxconn bought a controlling interest (66%) in Sharp for $3.8 billion.

In total, the 17 non-foundry companies in the forecasted top 20-ranking are expected to represent 68% of the total $357.1 billion worldwide semiconductor market this year, up 10 points from the 58% share the top 17 companies held in 2006.

IC Insights includes foundries in the top-20 semiconductor supplier ranking since it has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases the semiconductor sales are double counted.  With many of our clients being vendors to the semiconductor industry (supplying equipment, chemicals, gases, etc.), excluding large IC manufacturers like the foundries would leave significant “holes” in the list of top semiconductor suppliers.  As shown in the listing, the foundries and fabless companies are identified.  In the April Update to The McClean Report, marketshare rankings of IC suppliers by product type were presented and foundries were excluded from these listings.

Overall, the top-20 list shown in Figure 1 is provided as a guideline to identify which companies are the leading semiconductor suppliers, whether they are IDMs, fabless companies, or foundries.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Nine of the top-20 companies are forecast to have sales of at least $10.0 billion this year.  As shown, it is expected to take about $4.5 billion in sales just to make it into the 2016 top-20 semiconductor supplier list. Moreover, if Qualcomm’s purchase of NXP is completed, as is expected in late 2017, the combined annual semiconductor sales of these two companies will likely be over $25 billion going forward. Overall, no new entrants are expected to make it into the top-20 ranking in 2016 as compared to the 2015 ranking.

Intel is forecast to remain firmly in control of the number one spot in the top-20 ranking in 2016.  In fact, it is expected to increase its lead over Samsung’s semiconductor sales from only 24% in 2015 to 29% in 2016.  The biggest upward move in the ranking is forecast to be made by Apple, which is expected to jump up three positions in the 2016 ranking as compared to 2015.  Other companies that are forecast to make noticeable moves up the ranking include MediaTek and Nvidia, with each company expected to improve by two positions.

Apple is an anomaly in the top-20 ranking with regards to major semiconductor suppliers. The company designs and uses its processors only in its own products—there are no sales of the company’s MPUs to other system makers.  IC Insights estimates that Apple’s custom ARM-based SoC processors will have a “sales value” of $6.5 billion in 2016, which will place them in the 14th position in the forecasted top-20 ranking.

In total, the top-20 semiconductor companies’ sales are forecast to increase by 3% this year, which would be two points higher than IC Insights’ current worldwide semiconductor market forecast for 2016. Although, in total, the top-20 2016 semiconductor companies are expected to register a 3% increase, there are five companies that are forecast to display a double-digit 2016 jump in sales (Nvidia, MediaTek, Apple, Toshiba, and TSMC) and four that are expected to register a double-digit decline (SK Hynix, Micron, GlobalFoundries, and NXP).

The fastest growing top-20 company this year is forecast to be U.S.-based Nvidia, which is expected to post a huge 35% year-over-year increase in sales.  The company is riding a surge of demand for its graphics processor devices (GPUs) and Tegra processors with its year-over-year sales in its latest quarter (ended October 30, 2016) up 63% for gaming, 193% for data center, and 61% for automotive applications.

The second-fastest growing top-20 company in 2016 is expected to be Taiwan-based MediaTek, which is forecast to post a strong 29% increase in sales this year.  Although worldwide smartphone unit volume sales are expected to increase by only 4% this year, MediaTek’s application processor shipments to the fast-growing China-based smartphone suppliers (e.g., Oppo and Vivo), are forecast to help drive its stellar 2016 increase.

As expected, given the possible acquisitions and mergers that could/will occur over the next few years (e.g., Qualcomm and NXP), the top-20 ranking is likely to undergo a significant amount of upheaval as the semiconductor industry continues along its path to maturity.