SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Global GDP growth is an increasingly important driver of IC market growth, according to IC Insights.

Between 2010 and 2018, the correlation coefficient between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth was 0.86 (0.91 excluding memory in 2017 and 2018), a strong figure given that a perfect positive correlation is 1.0, says the research firm.

In the three decades prior to this time period, the correlation coefficient ranged from 0.63 in the early 2000s to a negative correlation (i.e., essentially no correlation) of -0.10 in the 1990s.

IC Insights believes the increasing number of mergers and acquisitions, leading to fewer major IC manufacturers and suppliers, is one of the major changes in the supply base that illustrates the maturing of the industry and has helped foster a closer correlation between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth.

Another reason for a better correlation between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth is the continued movement to a more consumer-driven IC market. IC Insights believes that 20 years ago about 60% of the IC market was driven by business applications and 40% by consumer applications, with those percentages reversed today.

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