Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global 3D IC Market 2012-2016" report to their offering.

TechNavio's analysts forecast the global 3D IC market to grow at a CAGR of 19.7 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the huge demand for memory-enhanced applications. The global 3D IC market has also been witnessing the increase of multi-chip packaging. However, the thermal conductivity issues could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

The key vendors dominating this market space are Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Co. (ASE), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., STMicroelectronics N.V., and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Other vendors mentioned in the report include Elpida Memory Inc., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., and Micron Technology Inc.

“One of the emerging trends in the global 3D integrated circuit (IC) market is multi-chip packaging. In this type of packaging more transistors can be packed into a single 3D IC,” an analyst from TechNavio's Hardware team said, commenting on the report.  “This type of packaging is very important for memory-enhanced applications because this approach enables improved interaction between the memory and the processor. It is expected that multi-chip packaging will be a promising approach for most applications in the future. Thus, vendors consider that multi-chip packaging is one of the crucial trends that will lead to the growth of the Global 3D IC market.'

According to the report, one of the major growth drivers is the increasing demand for 3D ICs in memory products (flash memory and DRAM). 3D ICs are able to improve the performance and reliability of memory products and can also help reduce their cost and size.

TechNavio's report, the Global 3D IC Market 2012-2016, was prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; it also covers the global 3D IC market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.