If the design tools market is an indicator of future development for the combined circuit board and multichip module (MCM) industries , then they are in pretty good shape. Over the past four quarters, the PCB and MCM markets saw the highest growth rate, according to the EDA Consortium Market Statistics Service report that came out mid-October.
Electronic design automation (EDA) tools are often bought when companies are ramping up production, making them one of the fields that can be a harbinger of upcoming activity. Let’s hope so, because the four-quarters moving average for PCB and MCM increased 10 percent. In the second quarter, EDA revenue for boards and modules was $148.3 million.
That was nearly double the rate of most other fields monitored by the consortium’s report. Computer aided engineering (CAE), IC physical design and verification and services all grew by about five percent over the same period. The only group close to the PCB and MCM market was semiconductor intellectual property, which grew at 8.4 percent.
The PCB and MCM markets were also among the leaders when second quarter revenues were compared to the first quarter. The PCB and MCM markets grew 5.2 percent. By comparison, semiconductor intellectual property lagged substantially at 2.7 percent, while CAE and services were both at a low 1.2 percent rate.
Filed under: Boards, electronics Tagged: design tools market, electronic design automation, multichip module, semiconductor intellectual property
