While emerging technologies are usually fraught with excitement, sometimes it s easy to overlook the impact that existing end-use applications can have on the market. This month s Tracker takes a look at printers - laser, inkjet, and dot matrix. Overall, the printer market continues to expand as printer manufacturers product lines become stronger and deeper than ever. High growth segments of the market, including small offices and home offices, are driving the demand for printers. Another fast growing area is color printing.
Inexpensive printers can now produce photo-quality color images.
And with falling prices and improved technology, color printers will become even more commonplace. There are hundreds of semiconductors in a typical color laser printer. Thus, the opportunities are strong for semiconductor manufacturers playing in this market. This translates into 2,861.2 million 200mm equivalent wafers to support this demand. The Semico Index uncovers trends in business activity for the total semiconductor industry.