MCUTrends in the development of

According to a report released by market research firm IC Insights, the top five MCU vendors in terms of sales in 2021 will be, in order, NXP, Microchip, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, and Infineon, with market shares of 18.8%, 17.8%, 17.0%, 16.7%, 11.8%, and 11.8%, respectively, 16.7% and 11.8% respectively, with STMicroelectronics having the highest annual growth rate of 35%. The 6th to 10th vendors are TI, Nuvoton, Rohm, Samsung, and Toshiba, with a combined market share of 11.4%. The market share of the top 10 vendors is only 6.5%, indicating that the market is highly concentrated.

Due to the limited computing power requirements and the difficulty of integrating embedded memory processes, the most powerful MCUs are currently produced on 16nm processes. The world's leading manufacturers are all Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs) with 8-inch wafer fabs and packaging and testing factories with 90nm or higher process, so about 79% of MCUs are produced in 8-inch wafer fabs. Considering the large amount of investment in high-end chip manufacturing process and the high difficulty in technical research and development, coupled with the characteristics of a small number of MCU products, it is difficult to achieve better production efficiency, therefore, the processes including those below 90nm are outsourced to foundries, of which about 70% of automotive MCUs are manufactured by TSMC. Considering driving and occupant safety, automotive MCUs require a 3~5 year certification period before mass production, and the high threshold and time-consuming certification specifications have resulted in automotive manufacturers not changing suppliers easily, which has led to the market being monopolized by a handful of large foreign benchmark manufacturers.