3) THE MICROCONTROLLER MARKET
Thanks to Robin Getz of National Semiconductor for supplying much of
the material in this section.
WorldWide Microcontroller Shipments (in millions of dollars)
'90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00
4-bit 1,393 1,597 1,596 1,698 1,761 1,826 1,849 1,881 1,856 1,816 1,757
8-bit 2,077 2,615 2,862 3,703 4,689 5,634 6,553 7,529 8,423 9,219 9,715
16-bit 192 303 340 484 810 1,170 1,628 2,191 2,969 3,678 4,405
WorldWide Microcontroller Shipments (in Millions)
'90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00
4-bit 778 906 979 1036 1063 1110 1100 1096 1064 1025 970
8-bit 588 753 843 1073 1449 1803 2123 2374 2556 2681 2700
16-bit 22 38 45 59 106 157 227 313 419 501 585
Source: WSTS & ICE - 1994
If you were wondering why you should bother learning about
microcontrollers - well, the tables above should fairly scream the
answer at you. Microcontrollers will be *BIG* business - we're
talking piles of cash - billions!
Notice that even the lowly 4-bit device is holding its own - what use
is a 16-bit part in a toaster oven? Also notice that the 8-bit
market just keeps growing, and will probably continue to grow. 8-bit
devices account for over half of the market, and will eventually grab
even more. Now do you understand why every silicon manufacturer is
really pushing their 8-bit microcontrollers?
Average Semiconductor Content per Passenger Automobile (in Dollars)
'90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00
$ 595 634 712 905 1,068 1,237 1,339 1,410 1,574 1,852 2,126
Source: ICE - 1994
The automotive market is the most important single driving force in
the microcontroller market, especially at it's high end. Several
microcontroller families were developed specifically for automotive
applications and were subsequently modified to serve other embedded
applications.
The automotive market is demanding. Electronics must operate under
extreme temperatures and be able to withstand vibration, shock, and
EMI. The electronics must be reliable, because a failure that causes
an accident can (and does) result in multi-million dollar lawsuits.
Reliability standards are high - but because these electronics also
compete in the consumer market - they have a low price tag.
Automotive is not the only market that is growing. DataQuest says
that in the average North American's home there are 35
microcontrollers. By the year 2000 - that number will grow to 240.
Consumer electronics is a booming business.
When deciding which devices to implement in a design, there are lots
of things to consider besides who else is using these devices (and
how many are they using).
- Can I expect help when I am having problems?
- What development tools are available and how much do they cost?
- What sort of documentation is available (reference manuals,
application notes, books)?
- Can I work a deal by purchasing more devices at one manufacturer?
That is, purchasing not only the microcontroller, but also
peripherals (A/D, memory, voltage regulator, etc.) from one
company).
- Do they support OTPs, windowed devices, mask parts?
Here is a list of the big guys. Keep in mind that units does not
equal dollars. Since some companies deal primarily in higher end
devices, they need to sell fewer units to achieve a higher dollar
total.
Company Units (k) 1993
-----------------------------------------------
Motorola 358,894
Mitsubishi 71,674
NEC 70,180
Hitachi 67,873
Philips 56,680
Intel 46,876
SGS-Thomson 37,350
Microchip 35,477
Matsushitta 34,200
Toshiba 32,205
National Semiconductor 31,634
Zilog 31,000
Texas Instruments 29,725
Siemens 20,874
Sharp 17,505
SOURCE: DataQuest June 1994
The above numbers are just somebody's best guess - believe them if
you want to. Since they get paid to come up with these numbers, one
would hope that they would be fairly reliable. However, one of these
numbers is wrong for certain (and Robin Getz won't say whether it
should be higher or lower ;-).