Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By IP Source (Royalty, and Licensing), By Design IP, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2021 - 2027

Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By IP Source (Royalty, and Licensing), By Design IP, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2021 - 2027

The Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market size is expected to reach $7.4 billion by 2027, rising at a market growth of 4.8% CAGR during the forecast period.

Semiconductor intellectual property is a reusable cell, logic, or integrated circuit layout design that belongs to a party's intellectual property. IP cores can be licensed or owned and used by a single party, including a company or an individual. The word is derived from the patent or source code copyright license that occurs in the design. In addition, IP cores can be used as building blocks by developers of application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) logic systems.

IP cores are frequently available as synthesizable RTL in hardware description languages like Verilog or VHDL. In the sector of computer programming, these are comparable to low-level languages such as C. Along with that, IP cores provided to chip designers as RTL, allowing them to make functional changes to their designs, while many IP vendors do not provide warranty or support for updated designs. IP cores are also available as general gate-level netlists on occasion.

The netlist is a representation of the logical function of the IP as process-specific standard cells or generic gates in boolean algebra. Any process technology can compile an IP core deployed as generic gates. In the area of computer programming, a gate-level netlist is similar to an assembly code listing. A netlist provides reasonable protection from reverse engineering for the IP core vendor.

System functionality is being incorporated into single chips in modern’s era of IC designs, referred to as System on Chip designs, also called SOC design. These pre-designed IP cores, or blocks, are becoming increasingly significant in SOC designs. This is because most SOC designs use a standard microprocessor and a lot of system functionality that is standardized, and so can be reused across multiple designs if created once.

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most fatal pandemics of the century that caused a significant rate of mortality across the world. The pandemic majorly demolished all the businesses across the world and caused severe harm to the world economy. In addition, governments were forced to impose lockdowns in their nations, due to which, the world trade, namely imports and exports, was significantly disrupted. The pandemic also affected the semiconductor intellectual property market. However, COVID-19 has prompted semiconductor businesses to mobilize swiftly and make both short- and long-term changes to their business models in terms of their product offerings' sales and distribution capacities.

Market Growth Factors

Advancements in multicore technology for consumers

Players in the semiconductor IP and semiconductor businesses have a lot of tendencies to bring improvements and developments in the consumer electronics industry. Due to the fact that ICs and SoCs are increasingly employed in the manufacturing of numerous electronics, such as tablets, smartphones, and storage as well as processor goods, the semiconductor IPs are widely being utilized across the electronics industry. In addition, multicore processors are significantly being demanded by the consumer electronics sector, owing to developments in personal computing for consumer devices, as well as the advent of octa-core processors for smartphones.

Increasing utilization across the automotive industry

There are numerous applications of semiconductor intellectual property across the automotive industry. The utilization of semiconductor intellectual property is increasing across this industry, due to which, the requirement for an innovative design solution for chip manufacturing is emerging. In addition, the deployment of microcontroller units, microprocessor units, analog integrated circuits, and sensors is also increasing in autonomous premium cars. With the rising need for vehicle connectivity, connected cars, and electronic mobility, the demand for small gadgets with high functionality and performance enhancements is estimated to rise.

Market Restraining Factors

Frequent evolution across technologies

Nowadays, technologies are going through various developments and advancements. Technology, particularly in the semiconductor sector, is a constantly evolving subject. New technologies are being introduced every next day, which is disrupting the equilibrium of the semiconductor intellectual property industry. The same applies in the semiconductor industry, where process nodes are crucial. Design complexity, chip form factor, and IP core design architecture can all be affected by changes that are being introduced in a semiconductor chip's nodes. The most prevalent task in advanced SoC design is to successfully deploy these SoC devices in advanced technologies like 20 nm planar and FinFET processes.

IP Source Outlook

Based on IP Source, the market is segmented into Royalty, and Licensing. In 2020, the royalty segment acquired the largest revenue share of the semiconductor intellectual property market. In this agreement, the first party allows the second party to use their intellectual property based on pay-per-use. The second party has to pay an amount to the first party that is mutually decided by both parties. This segment is growing due to the fact that it does not need a significant amount for the second party to purchase a license with a substantial licensing fee.

Design IP Outlook

Based on Design IP, the market is segmented into Processor IP, Interface IP, Memory IP and Others. In 2020, the interface IP segment garnered a substantial revenue share of the semiconductor intellectual property market. The growth of this segment is owing to the increasing significance of a well-designed and tractive interface. Interface IP is one of the most crucial parts of the semiconductor intellectual property. In addition, Interface IP is the primary function of the semiconductor intellectual property as it is the first thing that a user goes through

Vertical Outlook

Based on Vertical, the market is segmented into Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications & Data Center, Commercial, Automotive, Industrial and Others. In 2020, the telecommunication & Data centers segment acquired a substantial revenue share of the semiconductor intellectual property market. The utilization of the semiconductor intellectual property in this vertical is increasing due to the rapid growth of wireless technology in telecommunication. In addition, in data centers, the demand for semiconductor chips with a new type of data with increased storage is rising, hence, the requirement for the semiconductor IPs is also growing.

Regional Outlook

Based on Regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East & Africa. In 2020 Asia-Pacific acquired the largest revenue share of the semiconductor intellectual property market. The growth of the market in this region is attributed to the continuous adoption of the latest and cutting-edge technologies across this region. In addition, the industrial sector of this region is rapidly growing, hence the utilization of semiconductors in the industrial vertical across this region is increasing, due to which, semiconductor IPs are widely being used.

The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Arm Limited is the major forerunner in the Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market. Companies such as Rambus, Inc., VeriSilicon Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and CEVA, Inc. are some of the key innovators in theMarket.

The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Arm Limited (Softbank Group Corp.), Imagination Technologies Limited, Rambus, Inc., eMemory Technology, Inc., Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (Microchip Technology Inc.), VeriSilicon Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.), Synopsys, Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Inc., CEVA, Inc., and Lattice Semiconductor Corporation.

Strategies deployed in Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market

Feb-2022: eMemory Technology teamed up with Intel Foundry Services, a provider of a wide range of manufacturing services. This collaboration aimed to offer best-in-class security solutions for storage and other security features for customers of the companies.

Jan-2022: CEVA, introduced Fortrix SecureD2D IP solution. Through this launch, the company aimed to enable secure data exchange between various chiplets within a Heterogenous System on Chip.

Dec-2021: Rambus partnered with NextChip, a leader of vision technology in semiconductor sector. Under this partnership, NextChip would provide hardware-level security for its advanced Apache6 automotive processor by leveraging RT-640 Root of Trust and MACsec-IP-160 Protocol Engine of Rambus.

Nov-2021: VeriSilicon launched neural network processor IP designed for artificial intelligence applications. Through this launch, the company aimed to build a comprehensive AI ecosystem offering open-source standards and machine learning frameworks support.

Nov-2021: Synopsys came into a partnership with Samsung, a South Korean multinational electronics corporation. This partnership aimed to complete a state-of-the-art, high-performance design at an improved process technology, the most recent of various products developed utilizing Synopsys artificial intelligence (AI).

Nov-2021: Lattice Semiconductor completed its acquisition of Mirametrix, a software company. The acquisition aimed to integrate Mirametrix’s excellence with Lattice’s innovative software and hardware solution in order to offer an end-to-end AI and computer solution that spans from the hardware to the application layer.

Aug-2021: Cadence Design Systems partnered with Tower Semiconductor, a leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions. The partnership aimed to launch silicon-validated SP4T RF SOI switch reference design flow leveraging the Cadence Virtuoso Design Platform and RF Solution.

Jul-2021: VeriSilicon rolled out Vivante DC9000, a high-quality display processor IP for multiple applications. Through this launch, the company aimed to meet customers' requirement through its highly-optimized, high-quality, and high-precision display processing features with low-power.

Jun-2021: Rambus completed its acquiition of PLDA, a licensor and developer of Semiconductor Intellectual Property. This acquisition would expand the digital controller portfolio of Rambus with the addition of PCIe 5.0, CXL 2.0, and PCIe 6.0 controller and switch IP. In addition, this acquisition would offer Rambus with critical building blocks for its CXL Memory Interconnect Initiative.

May-2021: CEVA acquired Intrinsix, a leading chip designer based in Massachusetts. With this acquisition, the companies aimed to integrate Intrinsix's broad chip design capabilities and IP, along with CEVA's leading wireless connectivity and smart sensing IP in order to launch a full turnkey IP platform that eliminates entry barriers for OEMs, IT companies, and Tier 1s considering the development of their cutting-edge chips in industry verticals like 5G infrastructure, medical, aerospace & defense, automotive, robotics and Industrial IoT (IIOT).

Feb-2021: VeriSilicon signed a multi-year exclusive subscription reseller agreement with Alphawave IP, a leader in in multi-standard connectivity IP solutions. Through this agreement, VeriSilicon would resell Alphawave’s exclusive IP for its entire IP portfolio across the Chinese market.

ct-2020: VeriSilicon collaborated with Samsung Electronics, a leading provider of advanced semiconductor technology. The companies aimed to launch Blaize’s hardware platform, an AI Edge computing startup.

Jun-2020: Synopsys entered into a multi-year agreement with Arm, a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge. Under this collaboration, the companies would develop and commercialize optimized Synopsys product reference methodologies to customers of Arm with the purpose to expedite verification and design of Arm-based system-on-chips for mutual customers.

Sep-2019: Rambus took over Verimatrix, a subsidiary of Verimatrix. Through this acquisition, the company aimed to expand its global reach fot its worldwide security customer base.

Scope of the Study

Market Segments covered in the Report:

By IP Source

• Royalty, and
• Licensing

By Design IP

• Processor IP
• Interface IP
• Memory IP and
• Others

By Vertical

• Consumer Electronics
• Telecommunications & Data Center
• Commercial
• Automotive
• Industrial
• Others

By Geography

• North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Rest of North America

• Europe

Germany

UK

France

Russia

Spain

Italy

Rest of Europe

• Asia Pacific

China

Japan

Taiwan

India

South Korea

Singapore

Rest of Asia Pacific

• LAMEA

Brazil

Argentina

UAE

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Nigeria

Rest of LAMEA

Companies Profiled

• Arm Limited (Softbank Group Corp.)
• Imagination Technologies Limited
• Rambus, Inc.
• eMemory Technology, Inc.
• Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (Microchip Technology Inc.)
• VeriSilicon Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• Synopsys, Inc.
• Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
• CEVA, Inc.
• Lattice Semiconductor Corporation

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