The market for field-programmable gate-arrays (FPGAs), with their rapidly expanding array of uses, is on a roll, reports market research firm In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz. The value of worldwide FPGA shipments will increase from $1.9 billion in 2005 to $2.75 billion by 2010, with much of this revenue from low-volume shipments.
“In large part, low-volume use of this product, relates directly to price, which directly correlates to complexity, and prices can run from less than $100 per unit to several thousand dollars per unit,” says In-Stat analyst Jerry Worchel “End-use applications will determine the viability of using FPGAs for the long haul.”
The largest two end-use segments for FPGAs will be communications and industrial, whose combined market share of the FPGA market will increase from 73.8 percent in 2005, to 76.8 percent by 2010, In-Stat analysts say.
Furthermore, FPGAs find applications across the spectrum of electronic-system design, from basic glue logic at the lower densities, to high-complexity, ASIC-type devices at the high-density end, analysts say.
At the high end, products such as Altera’s Stratix family, or Xilinx’s Virtex family, find their main applications in developing of high-volume products-most notably in communications applications.
The In-Stat research report entitled “Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs): Expanding Its Boundaries” (IN0603187SI), covers the worldwide FPGA market, and includes forecasts of end-use dollar consumption by category through 2010. It also contains extensive analysis of market trends and profiles of major vendors.
This research is part of In-Stat’s Semiconductor Logic Markets service. For more information contact In-Stat online at www.in-stat.com.