The demand continues for these printers, becasue they can also handle single cut sheets, letterhead, and envelopes. The downside is that they can be quite noisy. It has been replaced by inkjet in that segment. Unit shipments are expected to fall from 4.7 million units to 1.8 million units during the same period. Even though the market is on a downward trend, the market is not stagnant.
Manufacturers continue to introduce new products, and improve the technology.
Integration is apparent in this market as the number of total semiconductors declines from year to year. Wafer Demand for Printers Worldwide dot matrix, inkjet, and laser printers will reach 73.0 million units by 2003, up from the 55.4 million shipped last year. By 2003, demand will reach 2,861.2 million wafers in order to support the total forecast of 73.0 million printers. The majority of the wafer demand will be for embedded micrologic, other logic, and other MOS memory. Flash, on the other hand, will require the fewest number of wafers to support the printer market, with 2.2 thousand 200mm wafers in 1999, and 8.6 thousand by 2003.