Research and Markets reported that the industry's shipment value is anticipated to have declined slightly in the fourth quarter of 2015, reaching US$4.2 billion. In regards to application category, communication and consumer systems continued to take up the greatest share of shipment value in the fabless IC industry in the third quarter at 72%, collectively.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2016, Research and Markets forecasted that it is predicted that the industry's shipment value will reach US$4.0 billion, down 4.1% sequentially but up 5.2% year-on-year.