Embedded memory to grow

Worldwide revenues for high-complexity, cell-based designs, containing at least one or more blocks of embedded flash, are forecast to experience a compound annual growth rate of 26% from 2000 to 2005, according to Cahners In-Stat.

"The use of embedded flash, for both programming (or code generation/development) and data storage, will continue to grow in the future, from the perspective of percent of design starts containing the function," says Jerry Worchel, a senior analyst with the research firm. "However, its growth, relative to inclusion in new design starts, will be slow, due to the technology's major disadvantage, programming voltage."

In-Stat also found that high-end communications applications, in both the wired and wireless segments, will dominate embedded flash product consumption, averaging well over an 80% market share, throughout the forecast period.

On the geographic consumption side, it will be the Americas, followed by Japan and Europe, in a distant second and third, that will control future market destiny. The Americas will average nearly a 50% consumption market share throughout the forecast period.

Current estimates put customer-specific design starts that contain embedded flash at about 4% of total cell-based design starts, with this percentage increasing to about 10% of all design starts by the end of the forecast period in 2005.

The embedded flash memory market is currently heavily dominated by the low-density (or code generation) segment, which accounted for nearly three out of every four designs in 2000. By 2005, domination on the code generation side will slip somewhat, to two out of every three design starts.