USB 3.0 WW Market to Reach 3 Billion Units by 2018

Sales in the global USB 3.0 enabled devices market are projected to reach 3 billion units by 2018, primarily driven by the need for faster data transmission speeds between peripheral devices and host computers, according to USB 3.0: A Global Strategic Business Report (775 pages, £2,954.19), sold by Vertical Edge Limited.

USB interface has become a ubiquitous interface technology in a wide range of electronic devices since the introduction of its first version in 1996. Developed to replace legacy serial and parallel computer ports, USB provides an efficient, fast and hassle free connection interface for peripheral devices like portable media players, disk drives, keyboards, printers, network adapters, and digital cameras/video recorders, among others. The technology has witnessed remarkable growth with the number of USB ports installed on electronic devices growing to unprecedented levels.

The popularity of USB can be attributed to its rapid evolution in sync with changing consumer needs over the years. In line with this trend, the newest revision of USB 3.0 was released in 2009. The new standard brings in numerous performance enhancements with the most noteworthy being faster transfer rates up to 4.8Gb/s, superior power management capabilities, and higher maximum bus power. USB 3.0 also provides backward compatibility with USB 2.0 based devices. The USB 3.0 market is still in its nascent stage and the potential for rapid proliferation in peripheral devices is expected yield significant gains in the coming years.

Penetration of USB 3.0 interface in USB flash drives, external HDDs, and in notebook computers, bodes well for the market. The personal computers market represents a key early adopter of the USB 3.0 technology. Most of the new computers shipped, particularly mobile computers/notebooks, are equipped with USB 3.0 ports. Notebooks are projected to be the single largest device segment that will ship with USB 3.0 capability. Growth in sales of laptops and notebooks are therefore expected to benefit the market.

Rapid proliferation of USB 3.0 enabled storage devices is also helping drive growth of the USB 3.0 technology. With the introduction of high-bandwidth storage devices such as 64GB flash drives and terabyte external HDDs, USB 2.0 specification is fast becoming a data bottleneck. Transfer of content from these storage devices to computers typically demands faster transmission speeds and high bandwidth capacity, which are provided by USB 3.0. High-bandwidth devices can provide better performance if upgraded to USB 3.0 and therefore offer excellent prospects.

AsiaPac represents one of the fastest growing markets worldwide with a projected CAGR of 78.9% over the analysis period.

The report provides separate analytics for the US, Japan, Europe, AsiaPac, and rest of world. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2011 through 2018. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets.

The report profiles 82 companies including key USB chip manufacturers such as ASMedia Technology, Inc., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, DisplayLink Corporation, Etron Technology, Inc., Faraday Technology Corporation, Fresco Logic, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Intel Corporation, LucidPort Technology, Inc., PLX Technology Inc., Renesas Electronics Corporation, Standard Microsystems Corporation, Synopsys, Inc., VIA Technologies, Inc., and Texas Instruments.

The report also profiles major USB 3.0 enabled device manufacturers such as Apple Inc., ELECOM Co Ltd., LaCie S.A.S, Hewlett-Packard company, Iomega, Kingston Technology company, Micron Consumer Products Group, Inc., SanDisk Corporation, Seagate Technology LLC, Toshiba Corporation, and Transcend Information, Inc.