Semiconductor revenue is forecast to grow 13.7 percent to $661 billion in 2022 from $582 billion in 2021, according to IDC report.
Growth in semiconductor spending in the industrial and automotive industries in 2021 was 30.2 percent and 26.7 percent, respectively. Leading growth applications were 5G phones, game consoles, wireless access points, datacenters, and wearables.

Samsung took the top semiconductor spot from Intel as memory sales grew considerably faster in 2021, reaching $75.8 billion compared to $57.7 billion in 2020 in semiconductor company revenues, a 31.1 percent increase.

The top 5 companies included SK Hynix, Qualcomm, and Micron. In 2021, the top 10 companies held 58 percent of the total semiconductor market while the top 20 companies held 76 percent of the market, up from 57 percent and 75 percent respectively in 2020.

For 2022, IDC sees continued resilience in semiconductor sales with the cloud, network infrastructure, and automotive markets maintaining secular growth and semiconductor content per system increases as volumes moderate through the second half of the year.

In the memory market, IDC forecasts DRAM and flash growth of 18 percent and 26 percent respectively in 2022 despite price attrition expected later this year.

“The semiconductor industry had an extremely strong growth year in 2021, but shortages and tight inventory in some semiconductor markets remain. The new fabs and investment announcements will add significant capacity and could increase the risk of overcapacity beyond 2023,” said Nina Turner, research manager, Semiconductors at IDC.

Earlier, a report from Gartner said that the global semiconductor revenue is projected to grow at 13.6 percent to $676 billion in 2022. The increase in the semiconductor average selling price (ASP) from the chip shortage will be a key driver for growth in the global semiconductor market in 2022.