Bosch pulls ahead in MEMS top 30 ranking
Driven by Apple iPhone 6 design-wins MEMS sales at Bosch grew by 20 percent to more than $1.2 billion while ST’s MEMS business declined from $970 million in 2013, to about $800 million in 2014. The gap between first and second ranked is now more than $400 million and has revealed Bosch as a titan of the industry.
Although ST fell back towards Texas Instruments the top five MEMS vendor ranking remained unchanged in 2014 and together these five companies Bosch, ST, TI, Hewlett Packard and Knowles Electronics are responsible for around one-third of the total MEMS industry.
Top 30 MEMS supplier companies ranked by 2013 sales. Source: Yole Developpement. To see larger version of chart, click here.
RF companies also enjoyed impressive growth, with a 23% increase for Avago to close to $400 million and a 141 percent increase for Qorvo, formerly Triquint, to $350 million.
Next: Titans and strugglers
Growth in the inertial sensor market was beneficial to InvenSense, which grew its MEMS business by 32 percent in 2014 to $329 million and was able to climb from 11th ranked in 2013 to 10th in 2014. Freescale saw a 33 percent increase in its pressure sensor business, driven by tire pressure monitoring systems for automotive although overall its sales increased by less than 10 percent.
On the down side, ink jet head companies still face hard times, with HP and Canon both seeing revenues decrease. However, new markets are being targeted. Though thus far limited to consumer printers, MEMS technology is set to expand into the office and industrial markets as a substitute for laser printing technology (office) and inkjet piezo machining technology (for industrial & graphics).
Yole said it believes the MEMS industry has entered the “expansion stage” of its business, where a large supplier base enjoys success but some more so than others – such as Bosch. The next stage is the “balance and alliance” stage characterized by a top three holding up to 90 percent of market as other players are acquired or leave the field.
Ranking of relative market growth 2014/2013 top 30 MEMS companies (by percentage). Source: Yole Developpement. To see larger version of chart, click here.
Yole has divided the top-ranked MEMS companies into two groups; The titans with momentum are Bosch, Invensense, Avago and Qorvo. The strugglers are ST, HP, TI, Canon, Knowles, Denso and Panasonic. These companies are struggling to find a growth engine for their MEMS businesses, Yole said.
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