Market Monitor

Microcontroller Market Monitor

By Yole Intelligence — Mar 2024

Recent growth of MCU suppliers in China, coupled with China government incentives, has contributed to heavy price competition and short-term overages.

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Mainland China expands supply, Security gains traction in MCUs, ASPs finally set to drop

Mainland China continues to broaden its footprint, especially domestically, in the automotive industry which is creating an opportunity for new entrants and expansion into automotive MCU supplies in that region. The China government is incentivizing semiconductor suppliers to further expand its national semiconductor supply chain even as the US government and Western allies cite national defense issues as they seek to limit China’s access to key semiconductor design and manufacturing technologies for cutting edge processor development. While trade restrictions may limit access to high-end GPU and CPU production capabilities, the MCU supply chain is build on more mature technologies and the large number of new MCU suppliers in Mainland China demonstrates the effectiveness of China’s response to being blocked from bleeding edge technologies, by expanding their influence over other major parts of the semiconductor supply chain.

In Automotive and many other markets, the continued growth of connected devices and the push to develop more intelligent devices at the edge of the internet have driven demand for higher performing MCUs as well as integrated wireless subsystems and security engines. Secure MCUs represent a critical shift in the technology trends for MCUs. While Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for smartphones are a rapidly diminishing market, taking smartcard MCUs with them, the embedded SIM (eSIM) market is not only rapidly replacing SIM cards, but the secure connectivity technologies employed are expanding into many other applications for connected devices such as Trusted Platform Modules for PCs.

These are but a few of the edge computing trends set to not only drive demand but continue to bolster average selling prices (ASP). The MCU market is already at a pricing peak in many markets due to supply chain imbalances and scarcity in fab capacity recovering from a global pandemic, but as customers were forced to adjust to higher prices, the suppliers are using the opportunity to improve several aspects MCU design and supply from more integrated features, to better manufacturing processes, and more costly product mixes. The result is that the ASP of an MCU is expected to drop very conservatively and will probably not return to pre-pandemic prices in this decade.

A comprehensive and detailed analysis of the largest volume of processors

Microcontrollers are the largest market for processors. Over 80% of all processors are MCUs. If you are associated with the MCU supply chain in anyway from manufacturing to software development to investment, this monitor is a crucial resource.

Yole Intelligence’s Microcontroller Market Monitor is a comprehensive analysis of the global market for MCUs. One of the only studies of the MCU market that provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of 5 classifications of MCUs that influence design and manufacturing strategies – High-Reliability MCUs, Multimarket MCUs, Secure MCUs, 32-bit MCUs and 4/8/16-bit MCUs. This monitor is also one of the only places you can get quantitative and qualitative analysis of the manufacturing processes including die manufacturing, process node details and wafer starts.

The monitor provides quarterly estimates of the competitive landscape with rankings of MCU suppliers overall, across 5 MCU classifications, and 10 markets. The 10 vertical market segments are also presented quarterly with last year, current year and future quarterly performance in multiple key applications for each of the 10 vertical segments. New in 2024, the leading MCU suppliers include not only the prior two years rankings, but also the last 4 quarterly rankings.

Other key differentiators include Regional target shipments per MCU Class, List of 60 suppliers including many emerging China market suppliers, profiles of the market leaders and quantitative and qualitative analysis of leading design trends.

Technology trends address the emerging RISC-V architecture which is finally set to hit the mainstream MCU market. It features emerging memory technologies, new splits for application specific wireless market penetration, low-power and high-performance strategies, security at both the system integration level and the trend toward from SIM cards to embedded security strategies including eSIM and TPMs.

With 10s of thousands of data points and over 150 pages of qualitative explanations, this comprehensive and detailed analysis is a must-have tool for making critical business decisions regarding the Microcontroller market.

Key Features

Quarterly and annual MCU market sizing in Revenue, Units and ASP.
Quarterly and annual data from 2019 to 2028.
- Segmentation by MCU Classes – High-reliability, Multimarket and Secure MCUs, 4/8/16-bit and 32-bit.
- Ten Vertical Markets and 50+ sub-segments.
Manufacturing by process node, wafer production and leading manufacturer.
Regional ship-to estimates.
Design Trends.
Supplier ranking by revenue by class and vertical markets with profiles on leading suppliers.

What's new

Introducing emerging memory penetration forecast including Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), Resistive RAM (RRAM/ReRAM) and Phase Change Memory (PCM).

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.

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Microcontroller Market Monitor

Recent growth of MCU suppliers in China, coupled with China government incentives, has contributed to heavy price competition and short-term overages.

Mainland China expands supply, Security gains traction in MCUs, ASPs finally set to drop

A comprehensive and detailed analysis of the largest volume of processors