iNEMI recently completed and published its tenth roadmap study that focuses on the possible trends it sees in the electronics manufacturing industry currently and over the next decade. The report reviews everything from cloud computing, MEMS and sensors, to sustainability in the market.

“In the 20 years that we’ve been creating roadmaps for the electronics manufacturing industry, each successive edition has built on, and improved upon, the previous one,” said Bill Bader, CEO of iNEMI. “The first roadmap, published in 1994, was created by the U.S. electronics industry and covered only nine technology areas, focusing primarily on assembly and packaging, and electronic components. Since then, we have broadened our focus.”

Bader added that the findings look at geography in relation to technology. The report also takes in account an additional 11 areas of technology, six product sectors, and the entire electronics manufacturing supply chain. After completing the research, he commented that it looks like cloud computing will continue to see growth in terms of popularity and revenue alike.

“Cloud computing figures prominently in this latest roadmap, and has the potential to create the most significant paradigm shifts, bringing about major changes to business models in the next four to five years,” said iNEMI. Additional, the company estimates an increased use of MEMS and sensors for a variety of devices, specifically medical and automotive applications.

At this time, the only thing the company is unsure about is how long items will be sustainable in a world of quick turn over. Officials added, “Faster rates of change in miniaturization, driven by the explosion of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices, are resuling in increased use of complex, 3D assemblies and solutions…these solutions however, come with their own set of challenges. Lack of test access, pick and place of 3D thin chips or bare 3D stacked chips with irregular shapes…all become more difficult.”