IC Shipments Expected to Surge 21% in 2021
Largest increase since the 2010 boom


Integrated circuit (IC) shipments in 2021 are expected to surge by 21% from the previous year due to increased demand for electronic devices caused by the pandemic, reaching their highest level since 2010. IC Insights announced this on the 28th (local time) while releasing an interim update to its latest report (The McClean Report 2021), which forecasts the global IC market from 2021 to 2025.

IC Insights predicted that IC shipments would decrease by 6% in 2019, increase by 8% in 2020, and rise by 21% this year. IC shipments in 2021 are expected to reach 391.2 billion units, more than 11 times the 34.1 billion units recorded 30 years ago in 1990. The CAGR for IC shipments from 2020 to 2025 is projected to be 11%, higher than the figure from 2015 to 2020.

A decline in IC shipments is actually a rare occurrence. 2019 was the fifth year in which IC shipments decreased, following 1985, 2001, 2009, and 2012. There has never been a year with two consecutive years of decline.

The decline in 2009 occurred in the aftermath of a sharp drop in demand for ICs due to the global economic recession. The CAGR trend line for IC shipments decreased from 9% to 6% from mid-2008 to 2015. This is because global GDP increased by an average of 2.1% during these eight years. Despite a 6% decrease in IC shipments in 2019, the quarterly IC shipment trend line from 2016 to 2021 is expected to increase by 3 percentage points to 9% with a 21% increase in shipments this year.