Linley Newsletter
Analysis of new developments in microprocessors and other semiconductor products
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Communications Semiconductor Market Share 2020 Published May 2021 Authors: Bob Wheeler Corporate License: $5,995 |
Market Research From The Industry Experts
"Communications Semiconductor Market Share 2020" provides all-new market share data for semiconductors used in communications, including Ethernet products, FPGAs, and processors.
The report provides the detailed market information needed to sort out the dynamics of this market. With this report, chip vendors, investors, and OEMs will readily see which companies are the leading suppliers in a given product market, how these companies' standings have changed over the past year, how big the mature product markets are, and how fast the emerging categories are growing.
Semiconductor product categories covered in the report include Ethernet switch, controller, and PHY components, as well as Ethernet adapters (NICs). For server and embedded processors, we capture all revenue and then segment by application. Similarly, we segment FPGA revenue into communications, data-center, and other applications. Among the scores of companies covered are broad-based suppliers, such as Broadcom and Intel, as well as segment-specific vendors such as Inphi and Xilinx.
The report includes a brief text summary providing analysis of the data and a set of market share tables for many product categories and application segments. Companies purchasing a corporate license also receive the tables in Microsoft Excel form.
Make Informed Decisions
As the leading vendor of analysis for networking silicon, The Linley Group has the expertise to develop a high-quality set of market estimates. Our analyst team applies its extensive experience and network of industry contacts to deliver the quantitative information you need to make informed business decisions.
Whether you are looking for a well-established vendor to source from, a vendor to partner with, or a rising company to invest in, this report will cut your research time and save you money. Order "Communications Semiconductor Market Share 2020" today.
This report is written for:
- Product managers and executives seeking to assess the performance of their product lines over the past year or to identify areas in which to invest or divest
- Strategic sourcing professionals and engineers at OEMs and operators seeking information about semiconductor suppliers
- Investors and financial analysts seeking data to support investment decisions
What's New in this Edition
- Now includes revenue share for 400G Ethernet switch chips.
- Now includes revenue share for 400G Ethernet PHY devices.
- Provides 2020 market share data for all product categories and segments, including Ethernet products, FPGAs, embedded processors and server processors.
In last year’s market-share report, we restructured our product taxonomy to better match vendors’ segmentation and provide additional granularity. Our coverage now focuses on processors, Ethernet ASSPs and adapters, and FPGAs.
Server and Embedded Processors
We combine server and embedded processors into a single top-level category, as some vendors do not track which type of processor a customer uses. We divide total processor revenue into three application segments: the server segment captures sales to server OEMs as well as direct sales to cloud service providers or their ODM suppliers; the networking segment comprises sales to network-equipment vendors as well as ODMs sup-plying communications service providers; industrial and IoT includes all other embedded-processor applications.
In 2020, the overall processor market grew a robust 8%, driven by public-cloud data centers as well as 5G infrastructure. Due to its server dominance, Intel controls 86% of the total market. AMD held second place, however, thanks to its growing server share. Its embedded business declined in 2020 as the pandemic dampened demand for casino gaming and digital signage.
The number-three vendor, NXP, serves only the embedded market. Its 2020 revenue was relatively flat owing to the diversity of its served end markets. Having acquired Cavium in 2018, fourth-place Marvell primarily serves networking applications. The bulk of fifth-place Broadcom’s embedded-processor revenue comes from its StrataGX Arm processors. Other active vendors we track include Nvidia (Mellanox), Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.
Ethernet ASSPs and NICs
We divide Ethernet ASSPs into product categories using data rate and product type rather than end application. This year, we broke out 400G Ethernet components for the first time. Because OEMs and data-center operators often consume Ethernet controllers as add-in cards instead of chips, we also track board-level products (NICs and mezzanine cards).
The total market for Ethernet ICs exploded 18% in 2020. Most of the growth came from sales of 25G, 50G, and 100G Ethernet chips, which contributed 21% of 2020 revenue. Revenue from 10G Ethernet (10GbE) ICs remained the largest contributor at 34% of the total. The standard for wired PC connections, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) components fell to 26% of sales.
With 55% share, Broadcom is undisputedly the overall leading supplier of Ethernet ASSPs. But the top-ranked vendor underperformed the overall market in 2020, losing share. It leads in every Ethernet-switch speed from 1Gbps to 400Gbps.
Second-place Intel grew almost as fast as the market, largely maintaining its share. It is the leading vendor of 10G Ethernet controller chips and adapters (NICs). It acquired Barefoot Networks in 2019, adding 100G and 400G Ethernet switches.
Marvell is third overall but holds second place in several segments, with particular strength in enterprise networks. It gained a NIC business through its 2018 Cavium acquisition, whereas Aquantia strengthened its PHY business in 2019. In 2021, it acquired fourth-ranked Inphi, which leads in 100G and 400G Ethernet PHYs. Fifth-place Realtek primarily supplies Gigabit Ethernet chips for Wi-Fi routers and PCs.
FPGAs
FPGAs include most modern programmable logic devices (PLDs), which are based on lookup tables (LUTs). They span a broad cost and power range depending on application. We track FPGA revenue by application segment. In the last edition, we added two new application breakouts to provide greater FPGA-market granularity: data center and automotive. We also break out the communications segment, including wireless and networking infrastructure. Other applications include test, measurement, emulation, broadcast, consumer, industrial, medical, aerospace, and defense.
The overall FPGA market declined to $5.4 billion in 2020, falling 3.4% from a record 2019. Segment results were mixed, with communications leading the decline, whereas data-center consumption grew. Pandemic-related factory shutdowns negatively impacted the automotive segment. Market-leader Xilinx led the declines in dollar terms as its communications segment collapsed. Intel fared worse in percentage terms, underperforming all other ranked vendors. The net result is that Xilinx and Intel collectively lost share. Microchip grew its FPGA business modestly, gaining share. Now trailing Microchip only slightly, Lattice grew faster in 2020 than any other ranked vendor.
| List of Figures |
| List of Tables |
| About the Authors |
| About the Publisher |
| Executive Summary |
| 1 Introduction |
| Product Categorization |
| Server and Embedded Processors Use |
| Ethernet ASSPs |
| FPGAs |
| Report Organization |
| 2 Processors |
| Server Processors |
| Networking Processors |
| Industrial and IoT Processors |
| Integrated Base Station Processors |
| 3 Ethernet |
| All Ethernet ICs |
| 400G Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips |
| 25G/50G/100G Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips |
| 10G/40G Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips |
| 10G Ethernet Controller ICs |
| Gigabit Ethernet Switch ICs and Multiport PHYs |
| Gigabit Ethernet Controller ICs and Single-Port PHYs |
| Fast Ethernet Switch, PHY, and Controller ICs |
| Optical-Interface ICs |
| 10G Ethernet NICs |
| 25G-and-Above Ethernet NICs |
| Smart NICs |
| 4 FPGAs |
| Communications FPGAs |
| Data-Center FPGAs |
| Automotive FPGAs |
| Other FPGA Applications |
| 5 Methodology and Accounting |
| Methodology |
| Accounting Rules |
| 6 Revisions |
| New Companies |
| Revised Estimates |
| Figure 1‑1. Processor Taxonomy |
| Figure 1‑2. Etherent-ASSP Taxonomy |
| Figure 1‑3. FPGA Taxonomy |
| Figure 2‑1. Worldwide revenue market share of the top five server/embedded-processor vendors |
| Figure 2‑2. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of merchant server processors |
| Figure 2‑3. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four processor vendors for networking |
| Figure 2‑4. Worldwide revenue market share of the top five processor vendors for industrial and IoT |
| Figure 2‑5. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of integrated base-station processors |
| Figure 3‑1. Worldwide revenue market share of the top five vendors of all Ethernet ICs |
| Figure 3‑2. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 400G Ethernet switch chips |
| Figure 3‑3. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 400G Ethernet PHY chips |
| Figure 3‑4. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet switch chips |
| Figure 3‑5. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet PHY chips |
| Figure 3‑6. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of 10G Ethernet switch chips |
| Figure 3‑7. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 10G optical PHY |
| Figure 3‑8. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 10GBase T PHY |
| Figure 3‑9. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller chips |
| Figure 3‑10. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top four vendors of 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller chips |
| Figure 3‑11. Worldwide revenue market share of the top five vendors of Gigabit Ethernet switch ICs and multi-port PHYs |
| Figure 3‑12. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of GbE controller ICs and single-port PHYs |
| Figure 3‑13. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of Fast Ethernet switch, PHY, controller ICs |
| Figure 3‑14. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of optical-interface ICs |
| Figure 3‑15. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of 10G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑16. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top four vendors of 10G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑17. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of 25G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑18. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top four vendors of 25G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑19. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 40G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑20. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top two vendors of 40G Ethernet NICs |
| Figure 3‑21. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top two vendors of 50G Ethernet NICs and controller chips |
| Figure 3‑22. Worldwide port-shipment market share of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet NICs and controller chips |
| Figure 3‑23. Worldwide revenue market share of the top 3 vendors of smart NICs |
| Figure 4‑1. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of FPGAs |
| Figure 4‑2. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of FPGAs for use in communications systems |
| Figure 4‑3. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of FPGAs for use in data centers |
| Figure 4‑4. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of FPGAs for use in automotive applications |
| Figure 4‑5. Worldwide revenue market share of the top four vendors of FPGAs for use in other applications |
| Table 2‑1. Worldwide revenue of the top five server/embedded-processor vendors |
| Table 2‑2. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of merchant server processors |
| Table 2‑3. Worldwide revenue of the top four processor vendors for networking |
| Table 2‑4. Worldwide revenue of the top five processor vendors for industrial and IoT |
| Table 2‑5. Worldwide revenue of the top three vendors of integrated base-station processors |
| Table 3‑1. Worldwide revenue of the top five vendors of all Ethernet ICs |
| Table 3‑2. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of 400G Ethernet switch chips |
| Table 3‑3. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 400G Ethernet PHY chips |
| Table 3‑4. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet switch chips |
| Table 3‑5. Worldwide revenue market share of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet PHY chips |
| Table 3‑6. Worldwide revenue market share of the top three vendors of 10G Ethernet switch chips |
| Table 3‑7. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of 10G optical PHY |
| Table 3‑8. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of 10GBase-T PHY |
| Table 3‑9. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller chips |
| Table 3‑10. Worldwide port shipments of the top four vendors of 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller chips |
| Table 3‑11. Worldwide revenue of the top five vendors of Gigabit Ethernet switch ICs and multi-port PHYs |
| Table 3‑12. Worldwide revenue of the top three vendors of GbE controller ICs and single-port PHYs |
| Table 3‑13. Worldwide revenue of the top three vendors of Fast Ethernet switch, PHY, controller ICs |
| Table 3‑14. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of optical-interface ICs (millions of dollars). (Source: The Linley Group) |
| Table 3‑15. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of 10G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑16. Worldwide port shipments of the top four vendors of 10G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑17. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of 25G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑18. Worldwide port shipments of the top four vendors of 25G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑19. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of 40G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑20. Worldwide port shipments of the top two vendors of 40G Ethernet NICs |
| Table 3‑21. Worldwide port shipments of the top two vendors of 50G Ethernet NICs and controller chips |
| Table 3‑22. Worldwide port shipments of the top two vendors of 100G Ethernet NICs and controller chips |
| Table 3‑23. Worldwide revenue of the top three vendors of smart NICs |
| Table 4‑1. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of FPGAs |
| Table 4‑2. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of FPGAs for use in communications systems |
| Table 4‑3. Worldwide revenue of the top three vendors of FPGAs for use in data centers |
| Table 4‑4. Worldwide revenue of the top two vendors of FPGAs for use in automotive applications |
| Table 4‑5. Worldwide revenue of the top four vendors of FPGAs for use in other applications |