With the signs of weakness in the smart phone market, chip makers have gradually relied on growth from another key area of focus: the Internet of Things.

Over the years, we have always believed that the Internet of Things is the Next Big Thing, and the industry’s forecast for this market is that it will bring IC manufacturers more than tens of billions of dollars in the market.

So far, some chip makers' financial report data shows that the demand for smart phone chips is weak. With the slowdown of market progress this year, the Internet of Things driven growth of semiconductor sales is accelerating. Several companies have attributed sales growth to the Internet of Things, including Intel, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Cypress Semiconductor, and Silicon Labs.

Tom Hackenberg, principal analyst of IHS Markit Embedded Processors, said: "In the past few years, these companies have reorganized and assigned the entire department to the IoT platform. This is why we have heard so much about IoT-driven revenue."

According to IC Insights, the total sales of semiconductors used to implement the IoT system functionality this year will reach approximately $24.5 billion, up from $21.3 billion last year. The market research company is currently updating its forecast for IoT wafer sales, but according to last year's estimates, this market will grow to $31.1 billion by 2020.

Rob Lineback, Senior Market Research Analyst at IC Insights, said: "Given the weak growth in the smart phone market, ICs in the mobile space are leading suppliers to step up their IoT services."