According to a new technical market research report, Global Electronics: High Growth Products and New Markets- IFT063 from BCC Research, the world market for electronic products was worth some $1.8 trillion in 2006, a figure that is expected to increase to $2.0 trillion in 2007 and $3.2 trillion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5% over the next 5 years.

The market is broken down into wafer fab materials, semiconductors, communications, computer, consumer, industrial, and automotive applications. Of these sectors, industrial products account for 39.6% of the total sales for electronics products, while computer electronics have the second largest share of the total market at 20.0%. Semiconductors make up 13.5%, consumer electronics make up 13.4%, communications electronics account for 9.9%, and automotive electronics products make up the remaining 2.6%.

Historically, the electronics industry has seen intense competition between the U.S. and Japan, but most regions of the world (especially Asia-Pacific) are now rapidly accelerating their electronics manufacturing and electronics consumer bases. The electronics industry has been growing rapidly since the late 1990s, and it will continue to have solid growth as consumers in developed countries upgrade their current products, and consumers in developing economies purchase electronics products for the first time.

The enterprises that shaped the electronics industry during the last few decades include Sony, Matsushita, Toshiba and IBM, which are all still going strong today. There are a growing number of global companies that create electronics products. Of these companies, the ones that have the highest electronics revenues are Hewlett Packard, IBM, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Samsung Electronics, Siemens, Hitachi, Dell, Nokia, Microsoft and Toshiba.