Semiconductor company business leaders said Cloud, Big Data and the wireless/mobile application markets are seen as their company``s most important semiconductor revenue drivers over the next year. However, over the next three years, several emerging application markets will be most important, led by robotics, Big Data and automotive sensors, with Cloud, medical imaging, biometrics/security and wearables also attractive.

Geographic markets for revenue and employment growth
Semiconductor executives said that the U.S., China and India will continue to be the most important markets for their company``s revenue in 2015 and three years from today.
Six out of 10 indicated the U.S. was the most important end market for revenue in 2015, 55 percent said China, and 43 percent said India for 2015. The survey findings were similar for these countries when considering top revenue markets three years from today.
Executives also forecast moderate expansion in their company``s global workforce. They continued to cite the U.S. (70 percent), China (64 percent) and India (42 percent) as the top three markets for headcount growth in 2015.
Additional key findings from the semiconductor survey:
Eighty-three percent said their company``s semiconductor-related capital spending will increase for the next year, with 22 percent expecting an increase greater than 10 percent. Last year, just 12 percent said spending would increase by more than 10 percent.
Most (82 percent) expected their company``s semiconductor-related capital spending to increase three years from today. More respondents than last year expected an 11 percent or greater increase in capital spending (26 percent compared to 18 percent).
Over 8 out of 10 expected their company``s semiconductor-related R&D spending to increase in the next year. However, compared to last year, fewer respondents predicted 6 to 10 percent growth and more expected one to five percent growth.
Two-thirds, down from 73 percent last year, anticipated an increase in the number of merger and acquisition deals in the industry next year.

Most important sector, end markets, application markets
The majority of survey respondents (61 percent) predict sensors will provide the strongest sector growth opportunity for the industry in 2015. Sensors are a key to automotive technology applications , touch screens, wearables and the Internet of Things.
Among end markets, medical (66 percent) and networking and communications (62 percent) will provide the strongest growth opportunity in 2015, according to semiconductor executives.