IHS Markit has published its latest findings on the world merchant market for embedded computing, valuing it at an estimated $2.54 billion for 2015 (the company’s latest figures) and forecasting annual growth for the next five years of 3.7% (CAGR).
While growth in the embedded computing market varies markedly by the different standards or form-factors, IHS Markit points out that that there is an overall trend towards smaller form-factors aimed at the Internet of Things (IOT) market, which has the potential to create a large and growing demand for devices using the latest microprocessor technologies.
According to the firm’s latest research, world revenues for xTCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture) boards in 2015 fell by 13% from 2014, while xTCA systems revenue fell by 29%. IHS Markit believes that software technologies are likely to have a negative impact on the xTCA board and systems markets for the foreseeable future, according to the report.
“Sales in 2017 typically depend on design wins made in 2014 and 2015 and grow at different rates for different form-factors because of varying sector exposure,” Brian Arbuckle, senior market analyst, notes. In assessing the potential of other board technologies, he notes:
- COM will become one of the most popular solutions in coming decades, driven by the needs of industrial automation and Industry 4.0.
- COM in general is capturing more industrial board solutions from other industrial standards, such as Compact PCI, which chiefly addresses the defense and industrial automation sectors.
- Like COM, standalone boards target the industrial automation sector where growth is linked to the industrial IoT. IHS predicts growth in standalone boards of 7.7% to 2020.
