NXP tops OE automotive sector with Freescale buy

Semicast Research has released a report stating that NXP was the leading vendor of semiconductors to the OE automotive sector last year. Infineon passed Renesas Electronics to become the second largest vendor, with STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments completing the top five. Revenues for OE automotive semiconductors were forecasted to reach $28.2 billion in 2015, the market watcher noted.

Supplier consolidation and currency movements are the key factors influencing changes in the vendor share ranking in 2015. NXP completed the acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor in early December 2015, propelling the combined company to the top of the share ranking, with an estimated 14.5 per cent. Similarly, Infineon's acquisition of International Rectifier in January 2015 moves it ahead of Renesas to number two, with an estimated market share of 10.1 per cent. Having been the largest semiconductor supplier to the OE automotive sector for each of the last five years, Renesas is thus relegated to third position in the vendor share ranking in 2015, with an estimated 9.5 per cent share.

Figure 1: Semicast Research revealed that Infineon passed Renesas Electronics to become the second largest vendor, with STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments completing the top five.

Colin Barnden, principal analyst at Semicast Research, commented: "The combination of NXP and Freescale creates a formidable force, not just in automotive semiconductors but in other areas such as industrial, medical and MCUs. It will now almost certainly require the merger of two other leading suppliers to move NXP from the head of the automotive vendor share rankings."

Changes in the value of the euro and yen relative to the U.S. dollar have also impacted the vendor share ranking. Compared with 2014, the euro was an average of 16 per cent weaker against the U.S. dollar in 2015, while the yen was almost 13 per cent weaker.

- Christoph Hammerschmidt
??EE Times Europe