Shipments of touch controller integrated circuits are expected
to surge in future years, as the market for touch screen displays
in devices like Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and iPad continues to
grow, industry researcher IHS Inc. (IHS) said.
Shipments of the circuits should reach 2.4 billion units in
2015, up from 865 million in 2010, IHS said. This year alone,
shipments are expected to soar 28% to 1.7 billion units, though the
rate of expansion is expected to slow starting in 2015.
Since Apple almost single-handedly ignited the market for touch
in 2007 with the iPhone, IHS said, touch technology has branched
out from mobile handsets to a variety of consumer electronics, such
as tablets, e-readers, flat-panel TVs and portable media
players.
Together, the number of devices and appliances using some form
of touch controller integrated circuits is predicted to hit 1.06
billion units this year, nearly double from 514.9 million units
only two years ago, IHS said. More shipments of the circuits are
expected than of touch-screen equipment since many products use
more than one of the circuits.
The leaders of the touch controller space last year were Atmel
Corp. (ATML), Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (CY) and Synaptics Inc.
(SYNA), though they face mounting competition in the fast-growing
industry, especially from Asian suppliers such as Novatek
Microelectronics Corp. (3034.TW) and Himax Technologies Inc.
(HIMX).
But while unit shipments of discrete touch controller ICs will
continue to grow this year and beyond, revenue growth is expected
to be more limited, IHS said, due in part to a decline in average
selling prices and the falling number of touch ICs being employed
per panel in medium-sized applications.
-By Ben Fox Rubin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3108; ben.rubin@dowjones.com