What are the End Uses of Semiconductors? - Semiconductor Industry Association
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What are the End Uses of Semiconductors?
Semiconductors are ubiquitous in most of our daily lives. We may interact with thousands of chips throughout our day.
We mostly interact with semiconductors indirectly since they’re embedded in final products. For example, a modern car has up to 3,000 chips per car. These chips power features from environmental sensors and lighting systems to advanced driver assistance systems.
SIA and WSTS track semiconductor demand by end-use annual survey. The data reports semiconductor shipments across the following categories: PC/Computer, Communications, Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Industrial, and Government.
The table below captures some of the types of semiconductors used in the various end-use categories.
End-Use Category
Semiconductors
Example products
Computers
CPUs, GPUs, memory, ASICs
PCs, servers, data centers
Communications
RF chips, baseband processors, transceivers
Smartphones, 5G infrastructure, routers
Consumer Electronics
Microcontrollers, SoCs, display drivers
TVs, gaming consoles, wearables
Automotive
Power ICs, sensors, microcontrollers, ADAS chips
EVs, autonomous driving systems
Industrial
Microcontrollers, sensors, power management ICs
Factory automation, smart devices, and appliances
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