What comes after MEMS’ golden age?
Over the same period the CAGR of units shipped will be 13 percent. This together With market revenue growing more slowly than units shipped implies continued attriton of the average selling price (ASP).
Consumer applications, which have been a goldmine for MEMS vendors, are offering an uncertain outlook, Yole said. The market for smartphones and mobile computing equipment is levelling out causing MEMS markets to grow more slowly.
The use of MEMS microphones, interial, pressure and gas sensors is increasing in mobile phones but the devices have very low margins. The ASP for MEMS fell below $1 in 2013, Yole said.
Promising markets for MEMS, such as IoT and wearables, are still very low volume. Better short-term prospects, and margins, may lie in the sensorization of industrial and automotive applications.
“The car industry is still hungry for sensors, with 20 MEMS devices per car on average today, and autonomous cars might offer more possibilities for MEMS technologies,” said Eric Mounier, senior technology and market analyst at Yole. He added that the medical sector is looking promising with long-term developments starting to reach the market. Debiotech earned significant revenue from its MEMS micropump in 2015. The insulin Nanopump, developed by Debiotech, industrialized by ST and announced in 2007, was the first use of microfluidic MEMS technology in diabetes treatment. Industrial and defense markets also provide growing opportunities for high-end and high-margin devices such as inertial and pressure sensors, Mounier added.
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Bosch leads, ST stalls, InvenSense climbs in MEMS top 30 ranking
Bosch pulls ahead in MEMS top 30 ranking
ST drops in 2014 MEMS ranking, says IHS
Yole predicts the ‘sensorization’ of modern life
Yole predicts IC price pressure in IoT roadmap
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