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In the historical large shortage in 2021, MCU is in very short supply. According to IC Insights data from market research organization, global MCU sales average price will increase by 12% in 2021, which is the highest increase since the mid-1990s. Although demand is strong, due to insufficient production capacity, shipments only increased by 13% to 312 Billion pieces. Price increases caused by shortage of supply helped global MCU sales surge by 27%, ending two consecutive years of decline in 2019 and 2020, successfully crossing the US$20 billion mark and setting a historical record.
The ranking of the top five MCU manufacturers in 2021 is the same as in 2020. The sales of these five major manufacturers all exceed US$2 billion, and the growth rate also exceeds 20%. NXP ranked first, with its MCU sales reaching US$3.795 billion; Microchip ranked second, with sales of US$3.584 billion; Renesas Electronics ranked third, with sales of US$3.420 billion; STMicroelectronics ranked fourth , sales were US$3.374 billion; Infineon was fifth, with sales of US$2.379 billion.
Data source: IC Insights
In recent years, the MCU market has further concentrated. In 2021, the sales of the world's top five MCU manufacturers accounted for 82.1% of global MCU sales, an increase of nearly 10 percentage points from 2016 (72.2%). The total sales of the sixth to tenth MCU manufacturers are US$2.3 billion, which is not as high as that of Infineon, which ranks fifth. The sales of manufacturers outside the top ten accounted for only 6.5%, approximately US$1.3 billion. The main reason for the further concentration of the
market comes from industry mergers and acquisitions. In 2015, NXP acquired the American MCU maker Freescale , thus surpassing Renesas Electronics, which had dominated the list for many years, to become the world's largest MCU manufacturer. Microchip's acquisition of Atmel in 2016 also moved itself directly from fifth place to the top. three. In recent years, there have been cases such as Infineon's acquisition of Cypress (Cypress) and Renesas Electronics' acquisition of Dialog Semiconductor, which have further increased the concentration of the MCU market.
Of course, Renesas Electronics’ market share in its heyday was frighteningly high. In 2011, Renesas Electronics’ market share in the MCU market was as high as 33.1%, but by 2021, its market share was only 17%, and its market share was The other top five manufacturers grabbed a lot of them.
The following is a brief introduction to the world's top ten MCU manufacturers:
First place: NXP Semiconductors. NXP, formerly known as Philips Semiconductors, was founded in 1953 by Dutch company Philips . The company is headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. On August 31, 2006, Philips announced the sale of its semiconductor business. The business was taken over by a consortium composed of several Dutch investors, and NXP was officially established.
On March 3, 2015, NXP Semiconductors acquired peer Freescale (Freescale) in cash and stock. Based on the purchase price, Freescale is estimated to be worth approximately US$11.8 billion. If debt is included, the purchase price will increase to US$16.7 billion. . With a combined market value of more than US$40 billion, this acquisition made NXP the world's largest MCU manufacturer. Freescale MCU products can be traced back to the era of Motorola's semiconductor department. In the early days, they had their own MCUs, which were later gradually replaced by Arm MCUs.
In recent years, NXP has been repeatedly regarded as a target for mergers and acquisitions. On October 27, 2016, Qualcomm (Qualcomm) planned to acquire NXP Semiconductors for US$37.88 billion for US$110 per share in cash. This acquisition transaction, including debt, has a total value of up to US$47 billion. But in the end, the case was terminated because the antitrust review failed, and Qualcomm paid NXP a breakup fee of US$2 billion. But recently, rumors about , Samsung and acquiring NXP have arisen again. If NXP is acquired, it will undoubtedly rewrite the MCU market structure again.
second place, Microchip Technologies. Microchip was formerly the Microelectronics Division of General Instrument and became an independent subsidiary in 1987. In 1989, this subsidiary was acquired by investors, and Microchip became an independent company and went public in 1993. By 2009, Microchip had sold more than 6 billion MCUs, and by 2011, Microchip sold more than 1 billion MCUs every year. In September 2011, Microchip sold its 10 billionth PIC microprocessor. In January 2016, Microchip announced that it would acquire Atmel for US$3.56 billion, becoming the world's top three MCU manufacturers.In March 2018, Microchip announced the acquisition of Microsemi Microsemi for US$8.35 billion. Adding Microsemi's debt and investment, the total acquisition price reached US$10.15 billion.
In addition, Microchip has also acquired SST, Micrel, SMSC and other companies.
third place, Renesas Electronics (Renesas). Renesas Electronics' history can be traced back to many Japanese semiconductor companies. The main sources are NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology . NEC Electronics Corporation is a semiconductor subsidiary that was separated from NEC in 2002 and specializes in semiconductor products and applications. Renesas Technology is the semiconductor division of Hitachi Manufacturing and Mitsubishi Electric in 2003 (except for semiconductors for power control). A semiconductor company formed by the merger on April 1, 2019, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. At the time of its establishment (2003), it was the third largest semiconductor company in the world, second only to Intel and Samsung Electronics .
In April 2010, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology Corporation established Renesas Electronics Corporation through business integration. Due to the integration of multiple Japanese semiconductor businesses, Renesas Electronics has become the global MCU hegemon since its establishment. At that time, its MCU products were As its own architecture, it has also strengthened its Arm architecture MCU layout in recent years. On September 13, 2016, Renesas Electronics acquired US-based Intersil (Intersil) for US$3.219 billion in cash at US$22.5 per share. On September 11, 2018, Renesas Electronics spent $6.7 billion in cash to acquire U.S. manufacturer IDT at $49 per share in cash. In February 2021, it spent 4.9 billion euros to acquire Dialog Semiconductor, headquartered in the UK, at 6.7.5 euros per share. These acquisitions have little impact on the overall MCU business of Renesas Electronics.
ranked fourth, STMicroelectronics (STMicroelectronics). STMicroelectronics Group was formed in 1987 by the merger of two semiconductor companies, Società Generale Semiconduttori (SGS) Microelettronica of Italy and Thomson Semiconducteurs, the semiconductor division of French Thomson Company. It is headquartered in Switzerland. The company was renamed STMicroelectronics from SGS-THOMSON after the company withdrew its shares in May 1998. SGS Microelettronica and Thomson Semiconducteurs are both established companies, with SGS founded in 1957.
STMicroelectronics collaborated with the American company Cyrix in 1994 to develop Intel x486-compatible microprocessors, but it was not successful. However, in the MCU market, STMicroelectronics has embarked on a healthy path of independent development. Its bet on Arm architecture and the Chinese market is extremely effective in hindsight. STMicroelectronics is also the most successful MCU manufacturer in the Chinese market so far. Many local MCU manufacturers have It started by being compatible with STMicroelectronics products.
ranks fifth, Infineon (Infineon). Infineon was formerly Siemens Semiconductor, a subsidiary of the Siemens Group. It became independent in 1999 and went public in 2000. The Chinese name was once called Yiheng Technology , and it was changed to its current name in 2002. Infineon's MCU products are mainly concentrated in the automotive and industrial fields. On June 3, 2019, Infineon reached a merger agreement with Cypress Semiconductor of the United States. Infineon will acquire Cypress at a cost of US$23.85 in cash per share and a cost of 9 billion euros (US$10.1 billion). Cypress The merger will bring more opportunities for Infineon MCU products in the consumer market.
ranked sixth, Texas Instruments (TI). Texas Instruments is a living fossil in the semiconductor industry, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA. Texas Instruments was founded in 1951 out of Geophysical Service Incorporated (GSI), which originally produced equipment related to the seismic industry and defense electronics. Texas Instruments began research on the transistor in the early 1950s and also produced the world's first commercial silicon transistor. In 1954, Texas Instruments developed and manufactured the first transistor radio. In 1958, Jack Kilby, who worked at Texas Instruments, invented the integrated circuit. Texas Instruments is famous for being good at transformation. From the initial instrument and equipment to focusing on semiconductor products, from the memory and processor business in semiconductors to the analog chip business, after more than 70 years, Texas Instruments is still in the The semiconductor market has huge influence.In the MCU market, Texas Instruments mainly focuses on its own architecture products, such as the classic MSP430 series. However, the market has gradually shrunk in recent years, and the company is also deploying Arm architecture products.
ranked seventh, Nuvoton (Nuvoton). Nuvoton Technology is a semiconductor company in Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, Taiwan, China. It was established on July 1, 2008 after Winbond Electronics split the logic IC product line. It is a related enterprise mainly held by Winbond Electronics and owns a six-inch The foundry produces its own brand ICs and provides foundry services. In 2010, the stock was listed in Taiwan, China. Nuvoton's MCU products include 8051 microcontrollers and Arm-based MCUs, which are mainly targeted at the consumer electronics field and also have a presence in the automotive and industrial fields.
ranked eighth, Rohm (Rohm). ROHM is one of the world's leading manufacturers of electronic components. Founded in 1958, it is a multinational group company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Like many Japanese companies, ROHM's products cover a wide range of products, including ICs, discrete components, optical components, passive components, modules, semiconductor application products and medical devices. In the MCU field, Rohm also has its own architecture products and Arm architecture products.
ranks ninth, Samsung. Samsung ElectronicsThe largest subsidiary of Samsung Group, Samsung Electronics was established in Daegu, South Korea in March 1938. The founder was Lee Byung-cheol. Nowadays, Samsung Electronics is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and is also a giant in consumer electronics and components. MCU products are not the center of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business, but Samsung Electronics MCU products still have a certain influence in markets such as South Korea.
ranks tenth, Toshiba (Toshiba). The ill-fated Toshiba Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo's Minato District. It has extensive layout in the fields of power development, industrial production, environmental protection, commercial offices, semiconductors, etc. Toshiba was once the light of Japan's electronics industry. It is the first manufacturer of many electronic products in Japan or the world, including microwave ovens, laptops, , DVDs, etc. In terms of semiconductors, it also invented flash memory technology. However, due to poor management in recent years, it has filed for bankruptcy, and its flash memory business has been spun off and became independent as Kioxia, which is currently the largest semiconductor company in Japan. Toshiba MCU products are now part of Toshiba's semiconductor business, and the current mainstream products are also based on Arm architecture.
