71 applications can't be wrong about ASIC design starts

PHOENIX, USA: The worldwide financial meltdown of 2008-2009 impacted the ASIC design start landscape as many designs that were underway were either cancelled outright or were suspended pending a recovery in the end markets.

Starting at the end of 1Q09, the market decline halted, markets stabilized and came roaring back in the second half of 2009 and into 2010.

The rise of the Basic SoC category, using CPU cores from 3rd Party Intellectual Party vendors rather than proprietary CPUs, has redefined the ASIC design start market as silicon designers are crafting their silicon solutions to meet changing market requirements and increasing design costs.

These changes and many more are outlined in a new report from Semico Research titled ASIC Design Starts by Key End Market Applications.

This report looks at changes and trends in 71 end applications concentrated in the Computer, Consumer, Communications, Transportation and Industrial market categories.

The report tracks the design starts and unit shipments of nine different types of ASIC products--Analog, Mixed Signal, Gate Array, Advanced Performance Multicore SoCs, Value Multicore SoCs, Basic SoCs, PLDs, FPGAs and Structured ASICs--used in the profiled applications. Forecasts for all end applications, ASIC design starts and unit shipments are given from 2009-2014.

Some of the data discussed in 155 pages with 144 tables and 76 graphs include:

* Total ASIC design starts fell 5.2 percent in 2009, while Semico is forecasting a return to growth with an increase of 9.1 percent in 2010.

* Total ASIC design starts are forecast to show a CAGR of 7.6 percent from 2010-2014.

* The number of 'first time' designs in the SoC market dropped 16.6 percent in 2009 while derivative SoC designs dropped only 7.8 percent.

* The fastest growing category of silicon solution is the Basic SoC at a CAGR of 20.2 percent.

* The largest end market for ASIC design starts is the Communications market with 39.6 percent of the total.

* The fastest growing market category is the Transportation segment with a CAGR of 10.7 percent.