Last year, OSD sales hit another record high, and growth will slow down in the next two years

  After a strong growth in 2018, optoelectronics, sensors/actuators and discrete devices (collectively referred to as O-S-D) are expected to hit record highs for three consecutive years, but growth will fall in the next two years due to slowing economic growth.

According to the latest report from IC Insights, OSD's consolidated sales increased by 9% in 2018, reaching $82.4 billion, a record high for nine consecutive years. Total OSD sales are expected to grow 6% this year to a record $87.1 billion.

According to the report, OSD has achieved the highest historical sales in all three parts for two consecutive years, and the different growth rates are affected by various factors and market conditions of the year. OSD products accounted for 16% of the total global semiconductor sales of 204.1 billion in 2018, and the rest of the revenue comes from integrated circuits.

Since the mid-1990s, the total sales of OSD in 2018 has increased almost 1.5 times the average annual growth rate of these semiconductors. OSD's sales growth will slow in the next two years, and it is expected that there will be a “soft landing” for most product categories during the 2020 slowdown.

Although the total sales of OSD has grown strongly in 2018, the report pointed out that this diversified semiconductor collection shows a significantly lower than normal growth rate, and the average selling price of the three market segments will move in different directions this year.

The strong unit growth of optoelectronics (+ 18%) offset the sharp drop in average selling prices (-7%), which increased revenue in the photovoltaic market by 9% to $40.3 billion in 2018.

At the same time, the inventory adjustments and purchases of many sensors and actuators have hampered sales growth in this segment, resulting in a modest increase in total sales of sensors and actuators by 6% to $14.7 billion in 2018.

The increase in total sales of discrete devices exceeded the historical average annual growth rate for two consecutive years, and increased by 11% last year to reach $27.4 billion. The report shows that due to the continued shortage of power transistors, diodes and other widely used equipment, all discrete devices sold exceptionally strong last year, and the average selling price soared by 12%.