ABI: Upswing Predicted for Shipments of Ultra-Mobile Device ICs

ABI Research has classified “ultra-mobile device” (UMD) to encompass media tablets, netbooks, mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and eBook readers for its new report “Semiconductors in Tablets, Netbooks, MIDs, and Mobile CE.”  ABI says UMDs comprise one of the fastest-growing consumer product markets in the world. All these products need ICs, and according to the latest ABI Research forecasts, this demand could result in shipments of nearly one and a quarter billion ICs in 2015.

According to principal analyst Peter Cooney, in a statement: “Our forecast for UMD ICs hinges on one factor that is still unknown: whether the media tablet market performs as expected. Media tablets are potentially very important but still very new, and the ultimate size of their market will in turn determine the demand for these ICs. If the tablet market meets or exceeds our expectations, then UMD IC shipments should surpass 1.24 billion in 2015.”

Netbooks accounted for 90 percent of the UMD market in 2009. If media tablets find widespread consumer adoption, by 2015 the market will be split about 50-50 between netbooks and tablets. (MIDs and eReaders will still exist, but their market share is expected to be negligible.)

Many but not all of these ICs will be central processors: the remainder of the market consists of connectivity and other chips including Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, and MEMS.