It comes across as a paradox. It may sound counter-intuitive to some. But it is a reality that as the world becomes more digital, the more is the need for analog chips.

Take any electronic end-equipment where digitization has taken major strides – whether it is in wireless, entertainment, industrial, or other domains. In every such system, we see rapid growth of analog semiconductor solutions – whether it is amplifiers, data converters, interface, or power management chips. Emerging opportunities, such as medical electronics or renewable energy systems, are also demanding critical analog semiconductor solutions.

Analog chips provide the means for converting real world signals such as voice, sound, pressure, and temperature into the digital world. What makes analog so ubiquitous is that there is ‘at least one’ analog chip in ‘every’ electronic system in the world. Think about it – one or more analog chips in every electronic system! This makes analog a very powerful growth engine for the future.

Let us take wireless communication as an example. Whether it is audio quality, battery life, or quality of display in our handsets – it is analog components that play a vital role. Similarly, in wireless base-stations, high performance analog solutions have a strong impact on the power consumption and customer coverage per cell site.

In the automotive sector, analog designs play a crucial role in safety, fuel efficiency, and car entertainment systems. In digital cameras or camcorders, the image or video quality is directly linked to the analog components in the system. Similarly in ultrasound systems, the analog components – amplifiers, and data converters - have a direct impact on the resolution of the image.