Market Monitor
Microcontroller (MCU) Market Monitor
By Yole Intelligence —
2022 1H over-supply created pessimism in the MCU market, but 2H performed unexpectedly well. Inflation still looms but sets a cautious view for 2023.
Excel Database:
- Manufacturing
- IDM & foundry Capex
- Geometry
- Wafers
- Class: High-reliability, multimarket, secure MCU, 4/8/16-bit, & 32-bit
- 10 Vertical market segments & 40 applications
- Design
- Memory, voltage, frequency, function
- Ecosystem, HP vs. ULP, multicore, core IP
- Competitive landscape
- Overall, class, market rankings
- Designer list
- Designer profiles
- Pivot table & data
- 3-year quarterly performance / five-year annual forecasts
PowerPoint:
- 150+ pages, context, graphs, & trends
What's new
- Improved quarterly forecast updated to 2021, 2022, 2023
- 2021 market shares revised
- Revised overall 2022 performance exceeded earlier expectations
Product objectives
The purpose of this monitor is to provide a thorough representation of the microcontroller market to companies, institutions, and individuals that need detailed, actionable market data for critical business decisions. Monitors, including this one, focus on overall market characteristics rather than specific technical details.
An extensive Excel database, including class, market, and region-organized tables and pivot tables, accompanies this presentation.
The report presents current megatrends and their effects on the MCU Market. It provides context and an analysis of the trends that drive the overall class and individual markets. This includes design and ecosystem trends.
The monitor provides context to the competitive landscape, including the overall market, individual classes, and market leaders. It provides an exhaustive list of MCU suppliers and profiles the leading ones.
Moving up the value chain, this monitor also provides a perspective on the size and market for MCU manufacturing with market sizing and trends in wafer manufacturing.
The three pillars of this monitor’s objectives are:
- This Presentation
- The accompanying Excel database
- Analyst Time for further discussion
Abov, Actions, ALIF Semiconductor, Ambiq Micro, Analog Devices, AppoTech, ASR Microelectronics, Arm, CEC Huada Electronic Design Co, Ltd, China Resources Microelectronics (CR Micro), ChipOn, CML Microsystems, Elan Microelectronics, EM Microelectronic, Epson, Espressif, Giantec Semiconductor, Guoxin Microelectronics (Unigroup), Holtek Semiconductor, Honeywell, Infineon Technologies, Intel (exiting MCU market), IXYS (Littlefuse), Microchip Technology, Mikron, Nationz Technologies, Nordic Semiconductor, Nuvoton Technology, NXP, Nyquest, ON Semiconductor, On-Bright Electronics, Quicklogic, Renesas Electronics Corporation , RISC-V International, ROHM, Samsung Electronics, Shanghai Belling, Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics, Silan Microelectronics, Silicon Laboratories Inc, Skyworks Solutions, SONiX, STMicroelectronics, Sunplus IT, Texas Instruments, Ultrasense, Weltrend Semiconductor, Winbond and more.
MCU Temporary Oversupply in 2022 Caused Moderate Impact
In 2022, some MCU markets relying on consumer spending experienced lower demand due to overages. Due to sharp cuts in early year spending and forecasts of drastic consumer spending cuts, the MCU market expectations were overly pessimistic. Despite the consumer spending reductions, the decline in MCU demand were short lived, with the exception of the personal data processing market, but other markets, especially automotive, rebounded despite measures to control inflation and grumblings of possible recession.
While 2022 performed above expectations, the impact of a reset of the replacement cycle for consumer and personal computing device markets will not have resolved by 2023. The effects of inflation will have become more recognizable to consumers by the end of 2022 and despite inflation expected to come under control within the next two years, the 2023 market is expected to be one of conservative consumer spending and cautious investment toward ramping up equipment production by end of 2024.
Radical changes in Secure MCU Market
The Secure MCU market has been dominated in the past by the massive volume of smartcard ICs used in credit cards, IDs and especially SIM cards for smartphones. These are highly customized versions of MCUs with limited instruction sets and minimal packaging but include industry standardized configurations for securing subscriber account information and transactions. This MCU market is evolving rapidly as the use cases for Secure MCUs are changing. While bankcard and ID card usage is still rising, SIM cards are in rapid decline.
First, the smartphone market has begun transitioning from SIM cards toward eSIM (embedded secure MCU on the board) and iSIM (integrated subsystems in the host SoC). This is cannibalizing the SIM card market but giving rise to a rapidly growing interest in Embedded Secure MCUs. This is also at a time when the smartphone market is becoming saturated and is no longer exhibiting the rapid growth that drove huge demand for SIM cards in the past.
A second driver of Embedded Secure MCUs is the demand for Trusted Platform Module standardization in PCs. The TPM provides hardware-based security functions for PCs and TPM 2.0 has become a standard that has become a requirement for certain Windows 11 features. In many designs, the hardware is facilitated by a Secure MCU so new motherboard designs increasingly use a dedicated Secure MCU.
Finally, cybercrime exploiting IoT devices has been drastically increasing. In response, many equipment venders with higher risk to liability or brand image such as automobile and automation OEMs have turned to Embedded Secure MCUs to provide gateways to protect devices from intrusion. Overall, the rapid decline in SIM cards has been easily offset by the increasing demand for embedded Secure MCUs. While the SIM card demand may soon bottom out, the rising demand for Embedded Security is expected to continue for many years.
Glossaries
Definitions
Table of Contents
Monitor Objectives
About the Author
Companies Cited in this Monitor
Who Should Be Interested by this Monitor
Executive Summary
Market Overview
MCU Vertical Market Detail
- Automotive
- Mobility
- Consumer
- Personal Data Processing
- Smartcard & Embedded Secure MCU
- Enterprise Data Processing
- Telecommunications Infrastructure
- Defense & Aerospace
- Medical
- Industrial and Other
Manufacturing Trends
Regional Trends
Competitive Landscape
- Supplier Share Rankings
- Supplier Profiles
Technology Trends
About Yole Group