New survey of global MEMS industry

Citation

(2007), "New survey of global MEMS industry", Sensor Review, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2007.08727dab.003

New survey of global MEMS industry

New survey of global MEMS industry

German microtechnology consultancy, Wicht Technologie Consulting (WTC), have published a new analysis of the MEMS industry. This shows that the global market for MEMS devices was worth a massive $7.65 billion in 2006, split between the major product categories as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Value breakdown of the global MEMS industry by product, 2006 (WTC)

Whilst inkjet printer heads presently take close to one-third of the total, the various types of MEMS sensors jointly comprise the largest sector overall – around 40 per cent, valued at some $3 billion. These include silicon pressure and flow sensors, micro-bolometers (Sensor Review, Vol. 27, No. 4), single- and multi-axis accelerometers, gyroscopes/yaw rate sensors and microphones. Pressure and flow sensors constitute the largest sector ($1.53 billion) which, in value terms, is split almost equally between automotive and industrial applications; automotive volumes are far higher but unit prices are correspondingly lower. The growing use of tyre pressure sensing systems has recently stimulated the automotive sector. The inertial sensors market (accelerometers and gyroscopes/yaw sensors) was worth $1.22 billion in 2006 and although automotive uses dominate, generating 70 per cent of the revenue, consumer applications are rapidly gaining ground, satisfying an ever-growing number of uses in products such as cell phones, cameras, games, laptops and camcorders. Despite earlier predictions that the automotive inertial sector was reaching maturity, the airbag sensor (accelerometer) markets continue to grow in regions such as China and India. Equally, the markets for gyroscopes/yaw sensors used in ESP (vehicle stability control) systems are still expanding, particularly in the USA, where legislation will drive ESP usage to almost 100 per cent of vehicles by 2010. In the same year, the global market for all automotive MEMS sensors is expected to exceed $2 billion. The MEMS microphone market emerged quite recently and is poised for rapid growth due to use in phones, notebooks, digital cameras, camcorders and PDAs. By year 2010, it is forecast to reach $680 million which perhaps explains why this sector has recently attracted several new entrants such as Yamaha and MEMSTech.

In terms of the suppliers, Texas Instruments is the leader, generating a 2006 revenue of $905 million from sales of its digital light projection chips (Sensor Review, Vol. 27 No. 1). Hewlett Packard and Canon are ranked second and third (inkjet print heads) but Robert Bosch is fourth with estimated MEMS sensor revenues of $374 million (value of packaged sensors, not complete products), reflecting its strong position within the automotive sector. Several other concerns involved with MEMS sensors are listed among the top 30 companies and most are involved with the automotive sector. They include Analog Devices, Delphi Delco, GE Novasensor, Honeywell, Denso, Freescale Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, Silicon Sensing Systems and others. Two companies who are active in other, more specialised market sectors are Knowles Acoustics, the leading supplier of silicon microphones, ranked 21st, and FLIR Systems, ranked 25th through sales of its silicon microbolometers which are used to detect IR radiation in its range of thermal imaging products.

This survey also includes an analysis of the MEMS foundry sector, which shows that the top ten companies generated combined revenues of $131 million in 2006, a rise of 30 per cent over the previous year. The leader was California-based Innovative Micro Technology who achieved an impressive jump in revenue from $13 million to $21 million, derived principally from the contract manufacturing of IR and other sensors, MOEMS devices and DC switch arrays for telecoms applications.

The full results of the survey are available in the new Custom Market Workshop from WTC: “MEMS industry 2007-2011: status, trends and strategies”. For more details or to book, please visit the web site: www.wtc-consult.de/workshops