Electronics news round-up March 2015

March 2015 was an exciting month in terms of happenings in the electronics sector, so we thought we’d do a quick round-up for you:

1. Europe’s electronics industry still strong

Europe’s electronics industry is in recovery right now, says economist Nenad Pacek, founder and president of Global Success Advisors and co-founder of the CEEMEA business group said:

“The electrical and electronics manufacturing industry is showing definite signs of recovery, especially in Europe, the US and Japan, and despite recent currency downturns in certain areas, emerging markets are still an important focus area for the industry.”

“Companies should ask themselves if their businesses in emerging markets are sustainable. Competition is extreme and will get worse in the coming years – companies that make investments in these markets now will experience the benefits in the future.”

2. Industrial chip market is growing

The industrial semiconductor market will grow 9.7 CAGR during 2015-2018 says IHS. Increased capex and continued economic growth, especially in the US and China, and will help spur demand and drive sales growth for industrial semiconductors. Factory automation, building and home control and commercial aircraft are driving demand for industrial semiconductors. In fact, industrial semiconductor sales posted 4.7% growth Q3 2014  compared to Q2. By the end of 2014 the market grew an estimated 16.8% over the previous year. Demand was especially strong for optical LEDs, which grew 23.4%, rising from $6.3 billion to $7.7 billion.

Discrete power transistors and thyristors posted 13.4% growth, rising from $5.5 billion in 2013 to $6.3 billion in 2014. Industrial OEM factory revenues were expected to grow 8.3% in 2014 on increased sales in the building and home-control market. High-growth categories include LED lighting and IP cameras and other digital video surveillance products.

3. Sensors for wearable electronics on 40% CAGR

Wearable electronics will be the big opportunity for sensors after margins shrink in smartphones and tablet computers, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan Inc. However, it will be sensor platforms that include hardware and software, rather than components that will be key enablers for wearable equipment, the firm has said. The sensor market will be shaken up by the entry by such giants as Google, Apple, Samsung and Intel, F&S asserts. F&S reckons the market for sensors for wearable electronics was worth $108 million in 2014 and estimates this will increase to about $800 million in 2020. This represents a compound annual growth rate over the period of about 40 percent.

Cisco expects UK startups to transform the UK economy over the next decade with healthcare, retail, transport and energy companies in line to earn a combined £100 billion from the Internet of Everything (IoE) by 2025. A new study entitled “The Internet of Everything: Unlocking the Opportunity for UK Startups” found firms that look to connect people, processes, data and things across major sectors have the best opportunity to benefit from a share of the spoils from the 50 billion devices Cisco estimates will be connected worldwide by 2020. This is great news for embedded design engineers like us.

A new technology and innovation centre, the Energy Systems Catapult, will be located in Birmingham. The centre will exploit commercial opportunities for new smart energy products and services created by the transformation of energy networks. It will also benefit from being close to an existing local hub of private, public and academic organisations working in energy systems.

6. Lifespan of consumer electronics is getting shorter

Investigation of built-in obsolescence for German environment agency finds percentage of products sold to replace defective ones has increased remarkably, reports ENDS Europe.  Electronic product life spans are getting shorter, an investigation of built-in obsolescence for the German environment agency has indicated. But consumers’ desire to replace products such as flat-screen TVs with newer model is also a major factor in what the research identified as increasingly wasteful consumption of electronic goods.