19% market share due to Freescale acquisition
Market reorganization through M&A, Microchip and Cypress also rise

The MCU market was as expected.

According to IC Insights, NXP Semiconductors, which acquired Freescale, has taken first place in the global MCU market share.

According to data released by IC Insights, NXP Semiconductors recorded $2.914 billion in 2016, up 116% from 2015 ($1.35 billion). Renesas, which ranked second, recorded $2.458 billion, down 4% from the previous year, while Microchip recorded $2.027 billion, up 50% from the previous year.

In contrast, Samsung Electronics recorded sales of $1.866 billion, down 14% from $2.17 billion in 2015. STMicroelectronics and Infineon, ranked 5th and 6th, recorded sales of $1.573 billion and $1.16 billion, respectively, showing a slight increase (4%) from the previous year. Texas Instruments (TI) also rose slightly (2%) to $835 million, while Cypress, with $622 million in sales, rose 15% year-over-year.

These results are analyzed as the result of NXP Semiconductors (acquired by Qualcomm) acquiring Freescale Semiconductor, and Microchip and Cypress acquiring Atmel and Spansion, respectively.


The MCU market has been stagnant for a while, but it has become a key player in the Internet of Things (IoT), automobiles, robots, embedded applications, and other new systems. Accordingly, companies have been making new breakthroughs through product development as well as mergers and acquisitions, IC Insights analyzed.

NXP Semiconductors overtook Renesas, the world's largest MCU supplier, in December 2015 when it acquired Freescale Semiconductor of the United States for $11.6 billion, giving NXP Semiconductors 19% of the total MCU market. For reference, Renesas had 33% of the MCU market in 2011. Microchip Technology rose from No. 5 in the 2015 MCU rankings to No. 3 last year. Atmel, which was acquired by Microchip, ranked 9th in MCU sales in 2015 ($880 million).

Samsung suffered the biggest decline in MCU revenue, weighed down by weakness in the smart card microcontroller market.