Printed Electronics vs. Silicon—Getting the Priorities Right

Contrast printed electronics where production facilities are relatively cheap and easy to expand and the technology is coming down in price. Printed electronics will therefore increasingly replace silicon chips at the low end and one can say much the same thing about replacing other conventional components, including displays. However, it will be many years before very high frequency performance is economically feasible for most forms of printed electronics so even simple microprocessors and the UHF and microwave part of the RFID market, to take examples, will be served by silicon chips for many years yet.