Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market by Design IP (Processor IP, Memory IP, Interface IP), IP Source (Royalty, Licensing), IP Core (Hard IP, Soft IP), Interface Type, End User, Vertical and Region - Global Forecast to 2029
[259 Pages Report] The semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market was valued at USD 7.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 11.2 billion by 2029; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.5% from 2024 to 2029. Factors such as increasing demand for advanced semiconductor components in telecom & data centers, and automotive sector, and expanding embedded digital signal processor IP and programmable digital signal processor IP segments create lucrative opportunities whereas constant technological changes resulting in increased expenditure, and concerns related to Moore’s law major restraint for the growth of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
Attractive Opportunities in the Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Forecast to 2029
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Market Dynamics:
Driver: Increasing demand for electronics in healthcare and telecommunications industries
After the recent pandemic, the demand for new and advanced medical equipment to conduct analysis and diagnosis has increased in the healthcare industry. Portable medical equipment, for instance, patient monitoring devices, witnessed a surge in demand throughout the pandemic. The increased global awareness has created an immense demand for personal monitoring devices even after the pandemic.
Large infrastructure equipment, such as medical imaging systems and biochemical analysis equipment, is used in the healthcare industry. These instruments feature low system noise and consume less power; this was made possible because of semiconductor intellectual property (IP) licensing available to medical device manufacturers, helping them solve unique design challenges. Conventional medical equipment has long relied on software solutions and complex electronics to function.
The telecommunications industry also saw an increased demand for electronics during the pandemic due to the implementation of work from home (WFH) and remote learning policies. Easy-to-use communication tools that enable remote work and learning, as well as teleconferencing instruments witnessed a huge spike in demand during the pandemic period.
Semiconductor IPs are used in the telecommunications vertical for networking, video communication, voice communication, wired infrastructure, and wireless infrastructure telecommunication equipment manufacturing.
Restraint: Concerns related to Moore’s Law
According to Moore’s Law (stated by Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, in 1965), the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit will double approximately every two years. Moore’s words were true to an extent, but this increase in the number of transistors reached 3 billion, built over an advanced 14 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. This technological advancement offered long battery life, computing, video capturing, mobile connectivity, and security features. However, no further advancements in IC technology were noted as the industry players continued to fail to develop a new process node of sizing less than 10 nm. This could mean that Moore’s Law becomes irrelevant. This can either cause a slowdown in semiconductor market growth, or end IC development. It could also result in new beginnings for the semiconductor industry, leading to modern technologies such as silicon photonics.
Opportunity: Rising demand for advanced semiconductor components in automotive and telecommunications & data center verticals
Companies in the telecom & data centers, and automotive sector rely on sophisticated, complex electronic systems. The increasing demand for electronics and semiconductor components in these sectors created the need for innovative design solutions for chip manufacturing. The applications of MCUs, MPUs), analog ICs, sensors, interfaces, and memory in EVs, HEVs, autonomous vehicles and premium vehicles are increasing. As the significance of electronics mobility, connected cars, and vehicle connectivity increases, the demand for small gadgets with high functionality and performance improvements in the automotive sector is also expected to increase rapidly. Thereby, creating opportunities for players operating in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
Challenges: Increasing IP thefts and counterfeiting
A majority of IP thefts, counterfeiting, and conflicts take place in Asia Pacific. IP thefts and counterfeiting lead to prohibitive costs. IP thefts mainly take place in ASIC and FPGA semiconductor intellectual property (IP) cores; this has been a major area of concern in other critical submarkets of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
In the current business models followed worldwide, IP counterfeiting, particularly the development of counterfeit components and system-level designs of IP cores, is the major threat. SRAM FPGAs are most vulnerable to such IP thefts and frequently fail to offer full functionality. Several efforts are being made worldwide to address this major issue. For instance, the World Semiconductor Council (WSC), which currently comprises semiconductor industry players from Europe, Japan, China, Taipei, South Korea, and the US, has a dedicated task force for IP theft prevention. This force comprises a pool of IP experts from all major geographies involved in semiconductor manufacturing. WSC also executes various national layout design laws and has laid out a multipronged approach to restrict the counterfeiting of semiconductor chips and IP designs.
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) market Map:
Royalty segment to account for the largest market share of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market, by IP source, during the forecast period.
The royalty segment of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market holds the largest market share and is expected to retain its position by growing at the highest growth rate during the forecast period from 2024 to 2029. Due to the benefit that the royalty IP source offers where the manufacturers are free to produce as many products as they want and pay a royalty for only those products, in today’s scenario of rapid technological changes. The 5G network rollout by operators has given a boost to the growth of the royalty segment as many base stations and wireless network equipment are based on various types of processor and interface IPs.
Consumer electronics segment accounts for the largest market share of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market, by vertical, during the forecast period.
The consumer electronics sector holds the largest market share and is expected to retain its position during the forecast period due to the increasing adoption of modern system-on-chips (SOC) designs in modern consumer electronic devices such as smartphones tablets, laptops and others. Technologies such as AI, IoT, machine learning, virtual reality, and augmented reality, as well as the increasing penetration of 5G technology are expected to create opportunities for players operating in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period.
Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing market for semiconductor IPs during the forecast period. High demand for consumer electronics products, especially smartphones and laptops, is expected to drive the growth of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market in the region. The presence of several semiconductor foundries is also expected to increase the implementation of semiconductor IP design in various applications. The increasing trends of vehicle automation and mobility are expected to boost the growth of the market for semiconductor IP in Asia Pacific for the automotive vertical.
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market by Region
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Key Market Players
Arm Limited (UK), Synopsys, Inc. (US), Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (US), Imagination Technologies (UK), CEVA, Inc. (US), Lattice Semiconductor (US), Rambus (US), eMemory Technology Inc. (Taiwan), Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (US), VeriSilicon (China), Achronix Semiconductor Corporation (US), ALPHAWAVE SEMI (UK), Analog Bits (US), ARTERIS, INC (US), Frontgrade Gaisler (Sweden), Dolphin Design (France, Dream Chip Technologies GmbH (Germany), Eureka Technology, Inc. (US), among others, are some key players operating in the Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) companies.
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Report Metric |
Details |
Market size available for years |
2020–2029 |
Base year considered |
2023 |
Forecast period |
2024–2029 |
Forecast units |
USD Million/Billion |
Segments Covered |
Design IP, IP Source, IP Core, End User, Interface Type, Vertical, and Region. |
Regions covered |
North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and RoW |
Companies covered |
Some of the leading companies operating in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market are Arm Limited (UK), Synopsys, Inc. (US), Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (US), Imagination Technologies (UK), CEVA, Inc. (US), Lattice Semiconductor (US), Rambus (US), eMemory Technology Inc. (Taiwan), Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (US), VeriSilicon (China), Achronix Semiconductor Corporation (US), ALPHA WAVE SEMI (UK), Analog Bits (US), ARTERIS, INC (US), Frontgrade Gaisler (Sweden), Dolphin Design (France, Dream Chip Technologies GmbH (Germany), Eureka Technology, Inc. (US), Faraday Technology Corporation (Taiwan), M31 Technology Corporation (Taiwan), SiFive, Inc. (US), Renesas Electronics Corporation (Japan), Silvaco, Inc. (US), TransPacket (Norway), and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (US). |
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Highlights
This research report categorizes the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market based on Design IP, IP Source, IP Core, End User, Interface Type, Vertical, and Region.
Segment |
Subsegment |
By Design IP |
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By IP Source |
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By IP Core |
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By End User |
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By Interface Type |
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By Vertical |
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By Vertical |
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By Region |
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Recent Developments
- In September 2023, VeriSilicon (China) announced that Inuitive (US), a leading vision-on-chip processor company, had adopted its dual-channel Image Signal Processor (ISP) IP, featuring low latency and low power capabilities, into its mass-produced NU4100 vision AI processor. This integration brings outstanding imaging and vision experience to Robots, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), Drones, and many other applications.
- In March 2023, eMemory Technology Inc. (Taiwan) and United Microelectronics Corporation (Taiwan), one of the leading global semiconductor foundries, announced that the Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) Ips offered by eMemory Technology Inc. has been qualified on UMC’s 22nm ultra-low-power process, adding to UMC’s comprehensive embedded memory offering for IoT and mobile applications. The two companies are also jointly developing new RRAM solutions for the automotive sector.
- In March 2023, Rambus (US) announced to offer IP cores such as Arm CryptoCell and CryptoIsland Root of Trust cores as part of its security IP portfolio, enabling customers to access the comprehensive security IP portfolio with solutions tailored to their specific architecture. Rambus will also provide ongoing support, maintenance, and development of Arm security IP.
Critical questions answered by this report:
What are the key strategies adopted by key companies in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market?
Product launches, acquisitions, and collaborations have been and continue to be some of the major strategies the key players adopted to grow in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
What region dominates the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market?
The Asia Pacific region will dominate the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
What vertical dominates the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market?
Consumer Electronics verticals are expected to dominate the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market.
Which IP source segment dominates the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market?
The royalty segment is expected to have the largest market size during the forecast period.
Who are the major semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market companies?
Arm Limited (UK), Synopsys, Inc. (US), Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (US), Imagination Technologies (UK), and CEVA, Inc. (US).
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The study involved four major activities in estimating the current size of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market —exhaustive secondary research collected information on the market and its peer and parent markets. The next step was to validate these findings, assumptions, and sizing with industry experts across the value chain through primary research. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches were employed to estimate the total market size. After that, market breakdown and data triangulation were used to estimate the market size of segments and subsegments.
Secondary Research
Various secondary sources have been referred to in the secondary research process for identifying and collecting information important for this study. These secondary sources include high-speed data converter technology journals and magazines, annual reports, press releases, investor presentations of companies, white papers, certified publications and articles from recognized authors, and directories and databases such as Factiva, Hoovers, and OneSource.
Primary Research
Various primary sources from both supply and demand sides have been interviewed in the primary research process to obtain qualitative and quantitative information important for this report. The primary sources from the supply side included industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, marketing directors, technology and innovation directors, and related executives from key companies and organizations operating in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market. After complete market engineering (including calculations regarding market statistics, market breakdown, market size estimations, market forecasting, and data triangulation), extensive primary research was conducted to gather information as well as to verify and validate the critical numbers arrived at.
To know about the assumptions considered for the study, download the pdf brochure
Market Size Estimation
In the complete market estimation process, both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been implemented, along with several data triangulation methods, to estimate and validate the size of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market and other dependent submarkets listed in this report.
- Extensive secondary research has identified key players in the industry and market.
- In terms of value, the industry’s supply chain and market size have been determined through primary and secondary research processes.
- All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified through primary sources.
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (Ip) Market: Bottom-Up Approach
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (Ip) Market: Top-Down Approach
Data Triangulation
After arriving at the overall market size from the estimation process explained above, the global market has been split into several segments and subsegments. Market breakdown and data triangulation procedures have been employed wherever applicable to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at exact statistics for all segments and subsegments. The data has been triangulated by studying several factors and trends identified from both the demand and supply sides.
Market Definition
Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) is a unit of logic, cell, or chip layout design utilized to manufacture integrated circuits (ICs) and complex circuits. Semiconductor IP is a predefined circuit that can be integrated into a large System-on-Chip (SoC) design. The development of new ICs requires the use of designed IP cores, also called IP blocks, which are licensed to manufacturers to make end products. The IP cores can be owned and used by anyone and developed in-house. They can be used as building blocks within semiconductor chips to add advanced features and characteristics by developing them according to the prescribed architectural design.
Key Stakeholders
- IP suppliers
- IP core developers
- Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs)
- IDM players
- Third-party IP developers
- IP licensors (licensing vendors)
- Open-source IP vendors
- IP aggregators
- Electronic design automation (EDA) vendors
- Non-pure-play (IDM) foundry vendors
- Fabrication players
- Raw material vendors
- Semiconductor IP solution providers
- System integrators
- Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)/Device manufacturers
- Technology standard organizations, forums, alliances, and associations
- Governments, financial institutions, and investment communities
- Research organizations
- Analysts and strategic business planners
- Venture capitalists, private equity firms, and startups
Report Objectives
The following are the primary objectives of the study.
- To forecast the size of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market, in terms of value, based on design IP, IP source, IP core, end user, interface type, vertical, and region
- To describe and forecast the market, in terms of value, for various segments across four main regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World (RoW)
- To provide detailed information regarding drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges influencing the growth of the market
- To study the complete value chain and related industry segments and perform a value chain analysis of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market landscape
- To strategically analyze the ecosystem, regulatory landscape, patent landscape, Porter’s Five Forces, import and export scenarios for products covered under HS code 8542 trade landscape, and case studies pertaining to the market under study
- To strategically analyze micromarkets1 with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contributions to the overall market
- To analyze opportunities in the market for the stakeholders by identifying high-growth segments in the market
- To strategically profile the key players and provide a detailed competitive landscape of the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market
- To analyze strategic approaches adopted by the leading players in the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market, including product launches/developments and acquisitions
Available Customizations
With the given market data, MarketsandMarkets offers customizations according to a company’s specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:
Company Information:
- Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to 5)
Growth opportunities and latent adjacency in Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market
Hello, I work in UMC IPDS (IP Development and Design Support) department, coordinating several outsourcing IP projects with ARM, Cadence, Synopsys, True Circuit, Mixel, Analog Bits, eSilicon etc. This article about IP market to 2023 is definitely an intesresting/worth-reading one for person like me so I expect to get the pdf version with details. Thank you for sharing.
Like to know what IP verticals and corresponding IPs are considered for this report and correlation with the market size. Companies in US are offering customer centric IP design to grab the market share. I want to understand what value proposition these players are offering and what is the opportunity in that business style?
We are into core IP design business offering soft Ips (both standard and application specific). We are trying to understand the market trend in semiconductor segment to identify business opportunity with machine learning. We want to understand how big the opportunity in next 2-3 years, speciafically in China market.
I am trying to migrate Kisel from being an RFIC design services provider to an RF silicon IP vendor. RF IP seems to be a non-exisiting market and is not included in your report. My special field of interst is therefore Mixed-signal and Analog IP. Best regards, Pelle Wijk
Hello, we are a startup trying to get some high-level numbers on the size of the "soft" IP market (FPGA IP). I was hoping you might be able to provide an excerpt from this Report - perhaps from either Section 5.2.2 or Table 30/31. Thanks in advance!