The global semiconductor design market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent to reach USD 2.3 billion by 2014, according to research firm Gartner.

Semiconductor chips are like building blocks and are used in making electronic items like mobile phones and laptops, to name a few.

The semiconductor design intellectual property (IP) market revenues had declined by 8.3 per cent in 2009 to reach USD 1.34 billion.

"The decline was temporary caused by the recessionary market conditions. However, we expect the market to return to growth track in the coming years driven by semiconductor vendors looking to reduce design time as well as cost," Gartner Principal Research Analyst Ganesh Ramamoorthy said.

The growth is in line with the semiconductor sales, which are expected to cross the USD 300 billion mark in 2011, he added.

"Companies would look at buy semiconductor intellectual property (IP) from design firms to hasten the process of bringing new technology to the market. This will provide a fillip to the industry," he said.

However, India will contribute a small part to the numbers.

"The Indian semiconductor designing market is very small, its about USD 8-10 million now. The number of players are limited. Over the next five years, we expect the Indian market to grow about 20 per cent, but it is still miniscule," he added.

The Indian players involved in chipset designing include companies like Cosmic Circuits and KPIT Cummins, he added.

"The market will grow as technology moves fast, specially in sectors like IT, telecom, broadcasting, automotive and consumer durables. Since these sectors are technology-heavy, they would require innovation in chip designing," Ramamoorthy said.