Ultrabooks to Account for 43 Percent of Notebooks in 2015

Ultrabooks may have had a slow start, but they are now predicted to quickly capture market share and offer an opportunity of unexpected growth for the semiconductor industry.

IHS forecasts that 2 percent of notebooks will be ultrabooks in 2011, while the share will expand to 28 percent in 2013, to 38 percent in 2014 and 43 percent in 2015.

Consumers are predicted to initially drive the adoption of ultrabooks, but additional form factors that will integrate convertible form factors and touchscreens will allow people to use these devices as notebooks or tablets and enable the technology to attract corporate users as well, IHS believes.

"With the introduction of the ultrabook, the computing industry is poised for yet another paradigm shift," said Len Jelinek, research director and analyst, semiconductor manufacturing at IHS, in a prepared statement. "The technology now exists that actually could bring about a convergence of major mobile devices. If an attractive price point can be achieved and the consumer deems this a must-have product, the entire semiconductor manufacturing supply chain could rapidly reorient itself to serve the fast-growing ultrabook market."

Jelinek said that the ultrabook could have enough appeal to "end the current slowdown in the semiconductor and electronics manufacturing industries." The transition from hard disk drives to SSDs, especially, "will increase unit demand for flash memory while stabilizing chip average selling prices," IHS noted. In addition, a much more complex bill of materials could benefit a wide array of suppliers, and "positively impact other supply chain participants, such as battery suppliers and electronics contract manufacturers," the market research firm said.