statistics  MEMS


Mobile MEMS market Yole Développement tips 20% annual growth to reach $5.4B in 2017.


N


ew MEMS devices will benefit from mobile device growth


over the coming years. Phones and tablets will represent a 2.9B units in 2017 and most of them will integrate 5 to 10 MEMS devices, claimed Laurent Robin, Activity Leader, Inertial MEMS Devices & Technologies, Yole Développement. The analyst group believes 10 new MEMS applications in mobile applications will become $100M markets in 2017. MEMS devices are extremely popular in mobile applications. Despite this interest, only 3 categories of MEMS devices are in high volume production today.


Motion sensors including accelerometers, magnetometers and more recently gyroscopes is the hottest market segment. It is still growing quickly and many business and technical evolutions are expected. One of them is the launch of combo sensors which provide a higher level of integration and possibly embed sensor fusion algorithms.


MEMS microphones which are promised a bright future, driven by ECM replacement and by new functionalities that require multiple microphones


BAW filters and duplexers have been popular for years, especially in Band 2 and new opportunities will appear with some of the bands used in 4G standards


Yole is tipping novel MEMS opportunities that need to be watched:  While limited to weather forecast applications today, pressure sensors are going to be used in combination with inertial sensors to provide location-based services


 RF MEMS switches had a successful start in 2011 and will benefit from the current hype for antenna tuning


 Oscillators is another hot area where silicon MEMS has a high potential, both for replacing TCXO quartz oscillators and for integration of resonators


 Another hot market is going to be MEMS auto-focus which provides significant added value compared to the existing VCM technology, but will face competition with other technologies as well


 Other types of emerging MEMS are microdisplays, microspeakers, touchscreens and joysticks


New players


Opportunities are thus huge for MEMS device makers, as this market tripled from 2009 to 2011. The ranking of the top players has also evolved the past 2 years: ST Microelectronics was number 3 in cell phone applications in 2009 and is now the number one supplier by far with $477M cellphone and tablet revenue in 2011. ST Microelectronics still dominates the MEMS accelerometer market, had an impressive start with MEMS gyroscopes, only challenged by InvenSense, and continues to expand to many other MEMS devices to become a one-stop supplier.


ST Microelectronics major clients are Apple, Samsung, Nokia, RIM and HP. Other large players are very focused on their core markets: AKM is the number 2 with $260M sales of magnetometers for electronics compass solution, Avago is leading the BAW filters and duplexers market with $244M sales, and Knowles is number 4 with $233M revenues from MEMS microphones.


Yole sees a number of trends that are shaping the competitive landscape of tomorrow including;  Many start-ups introducing disruptive technologies: both for emerging markets (RF MEMS switches and variable capacitors, scanning mirrors for picoprojectors, silicon timing devices, speakers, auto- focus…)


Issue III 2012 www.siliconsemiconductor.net 37


 Attracted by this growing market space, large semiconductor companies are now eyeing MEMS: Fairchild and Maxim have made the move through acquisitions, and others should follow


 New business models are being developed and it appears that some players specialize on a specific part of the value chain (MEMS manufacturing, signal processing…) while others are offering complete solutions (e.g. combo sensors which integrate MCU and software)


“The market for MEMS in cell phones and tablets will grow 19.8% to reach a $5.4B value in 2017”, says Laurent Robin, Activity Leader Inertial MEMS Devices & Technologies, Yole Développement. The MEMS industry will be largely impacted by global trends in mobile devices: connected devices, video and music consumption, social networking, diversity of users and usages, mobile advertising. In the reverse way, Yole Développement also notes that the booming demand for smartphones and media tablets can be partly explained by the integration of MEMS sensors which provide new functionalities.


© 2012 Angel Business


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