A record number of semiconductor products are expected to be manufactured this year – over a trillion pieces

The total shipments of semiconductor products, including microcircuits, optoelectronic devices, sensors and discrete elements, will reach 1.1353 trillion units this year. This is a record figure, corresponding to an increase in comparison with 2020 by 13%. This is the forecast of IC Insights.

Note that this is not the first or even the second time that more than 1 trillion semiconductor products have been shipped in a year. For the first time, the height was taken in 2018, and the second time in 2020. However, the growth rate slowed sharply last year due to the pandemic. Growth was 3%, while from 1978, when 32.6 billion items were shipped, to 2021 a compound annual growth rate is estimated at 8.6%. According to analysts, the high average annual growth rate shows that even with the departure of some growth engines, new ones have time to appear.

Highest annual growth in 43 years at 34% in 1984, second highest at 25% in 2010. The largest annual decline – 19% – was associated with the 2001 dot-com crash. The global financial crisis and the ensuing recession led to a drop in the supply of semiconductor products in 2008 and 2009. This was the only time the cut lasted for more than one year in a row.

As before, in 2021 most of all discrete elements will be shipped. In second place are optoelectronic devices. A more complete and clear distribution by categories is shown in the second illustration.