The billions of computerized gadgets populating the Internet of Things will be big business for microchip makers, according to a study by research firm Gartner.
It predicts the sector will grow 36.2 percent in 2015 compared with a 5.7 percent for the overall chip market.
The demand for billions of things will ripple throughout the entire value chain, from software and services to semiconductor devices, said Gartner Research Director Alfonso Velosa in a press release. These things will drive huge demand for individual chips, he added, noting that the growth will come from industries spanning consumer, industrial, medical, automotive and others.
Besides needing chips for smart TVs, watches, glasses and lighting systems, for example, Gartner said the car industry will be a major chip consumer, especially with when autonomous vehicles start hitting the market.
But while the Internet of Things will continue boosting chip sales for years, Gartner cautioned that the trend may not be the moneymaker some semiconductor companies hope for, because most of these smart devices will require extremely low-cost chips.
