Industry Overview
Global automotive ECU market size is anticipated to surpass USD 45 billion by 2020, growing at 6% over the forecast period. Mounting deployment in infotainment systems coupled with increasing ECU implementation in electric vehicles is expected to drive demand growth over the next six years.
Telematics systems and connected navigation systems require a growing amount of embedded software in order to manage an increasing number of services such as better HMI technologies, communication management and website access. For instance, BMW’s ConnectedDrive provides various applications for download to the iDrive multimedia system. It avoids new systems and hardware development, hence expanding the opportunity of existing infotainment system. It offers security and safety by predictive and remote diagnostics, active driver assistance systems, tacking, remote failure diagnostics, and access control. These aspects might extensively contribute to the automotive ECU market growth. China region was valued at for USD 5 billion in 2013, and is expected to exceed over USD 8 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 8%.
Increasing electric vehicles owing to growing awareness of energy efficiency vehicles is driving the global demand. Environmental trends have tremendous impact on the powertrain domain with increasing ECU implementation in electric vehicles. Growing electronic components will provide improvement in emissions and fuel efficiency. Increasing awareness towards green technologies including eco-driver assist systems has assured a major role in many drive-assist products and has become prominent in the automotive industry. Rising adoption rate of EVs is expected to help reduce CO2 emissions from transportation and dependence on fossil fuels, which in turn is expected to impact the industry favorably.
High complexities in the system owing to increasing functionality in order to control the communication options are expected to obstruct industry growth over the forecast period. Several complexities include hardware/software and tolerance stackup. The prioritization of development between software and hardware architectures within the ECU is one of the major challenges faced by Tier 1 suppliers and manufacturers. Low-flexibility for re-design during development has increased the complexity of MCUs per ECU.
Application Overview
Safety systems were the leading automotive ECU market application and were valued over USD 8 billion in 2013. It is anticipated to observe significant gains, with forecast of USD 13 billion at a CAGR of 6% from 2014 to 2020. It majorly includes airbags, tire pressure monitoring systems (tpms), keyless entry systems, anti-theft systems and pre-crash safety systems. Air bags protect the faces and chests of drivers and passengers. It receives data from sensors (high-G accelerometers) and transmits the appropriate response to the inflator.
Chassis electronics hold the second largest share in the industry, growing at a CAGR of 5% over the forecast period. Increasing consumer demand for comfort features and convenience is expected to spur the demand.
Regional Overview
In 2013, Asia Pacific automotive ECU market was valued over USD 12 billion and is expected to reach 19 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 7%. This can be attributed to mounting safety installations for each electric vehicle with standards namely China V for light-duty electric vehicles. North America holds 20% industry share in 2013 and expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% during the next six years. Demand in this region may vary due to diminishing high adaptation to new technologies.
Europe automotive ECU market is expected to gain significant industry share by 2020. The region is expected to attain USD 13 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of over 7.1% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020. Europe holds a strong position in the industry due to its leading position in the development and production of luxury cars. Companies such as BMW are especially important in feature innovation and in forging software standardizations that will provide many future advantages. Upcoming technology innovations and technology disruptions will be a key force that will allow it to sustain its strong presence in the automotive market.
Competitive Market Share
Global automotive ECU market share includes participants such as Autoliv, Continental AG, Bosch, Delphi, Hitachi Automotive, TRW Automotive and Denso. Semiconductor suppliers include Infineon, ST Micro, Renesas and NXP. In 2009, STMicroelectronics estimated that the average cost of semiconductor vehicle in a typical engine control ECU of a fuel based vehicle ECU is about USD 40 per unit.
