Microcontrollers get a lift from automotive
Summary
IC Insights is forecasting worldwide microcontroller sales to increase 10% in 2022 to reach an all-time high of $21.5bn (Figure 1), with automotive MCU growth outpacing most other end-use categories this year. The 2021 ASP increase was the highest annual growth rate for MCU selling prices in more than 25 years and resulted from tight supplies of microcontrollers in the 2021 economic rebound. Bottlenecks in production and the supply chain held back total MCU unit shipments growth to 12% in 2021, which raised worldwide deliveries of microcontrollers to an all-time high of 30.9 billion last year. MCU demand in the 2020 virus crisis was driven mostly by sales of home entertainment systems and electronics being bought by quarantined consumers, including large-screen TVs, Internet of Things-connected products and more sensors being packed into smartphones. About 46% of microcontroller sales are generated by MCUs in “general” embedded applications (including smartphones, computers and peripherals, industrial uses, and consumer products) while a little over 40% come from automotive systems, and 14% from the smartcard market for banking, credit and debit purchases, transit fares, identification cards, and other uses.