MEMS business will continue to grow in the next 5 years

IHS iSuppli, a US market research organization, presented a research report, pointing out that in 2010, IC designers expanded the market share of the global micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and in 2010 they accounted for nearly one-fourth of the total MEMS operating revenue.

The research report specifically pointed out that IC designers accounted for 23.2% of total MEMS revenue in 2010, up from 21.3% four years ago. Although this 4 year increase is not large, but this figure shows that MEMS manufacturing business is no longer monopolized by IDM vendors.

According to a research report, the IC designers have produced the most MEMS products, and the top five are printer heads, pressure sensors, microphones, optical MEMS components, and gyroscopes.

Printer inkjet heads accounted for 43% of total MEMS revenue in 2010 for IC designers. Hewlett-Packard (HP), the largest supplier of MEMS components, outsources more than half of all inkjet heads to STMicroelectronics (STM), and all of Texas Instruments' inkjet heads come from Lexmark. Most small mainland IC design companies cooperated with OEMs such as Asia Pacific Microsystems in Taiwan. Large orders placed STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments on the list of 1 and 2 MENS foundries.

The second largest among the IC design industry's revenue is MEMS pressure sensors, of which nearly one-third are outsourced. Automotive sensor manufacturers Sensata, Kavlico, and Melexis partnered with SMI, GE, Micralyne, and X-Fab fabs, respectively. As for industrial and medical applications, many manufacturers will purchase dies from foundries and then specialize in packaging.

The 3rd is MEMS microphone. Industry leader Knowles Electronics accounts for 85% of the market and it handed over all MEMS wafer manufacturing to Sony Kyushu. Analog Devices outsources to TSMC, and Akustica outsources MEMS microphones to Epson.

Optical MEMS is the fourth largest MEMS component, accounting for a significant proportion of the operating revenues of professional MEMS foundries such as Micralyne, Dalsa, IMT, Memscap, and Colibrys. There are only two IDM manufacturers in the optical MEMS field, namely Dicon and Sercalo.

Gyro ranks No. 5 in waferless manufacturing semiconductor MEMS operating revenue. Inven Sense is one of the leading manufacturers in the MEMS market. It outsources 2-axis gyroscopes to Dalsa, and 3-axis gyroscopes outsources services from Epson, TSMC, and Micro. Science and technology undertake. InvenSense accounted for 97% of overall gyro revenue in 2010, with the remaining percentage coming from military and aerospace applications.

According to the application segment, the first major area in 2010 was the printer, the second largest consumer electronics, the third largest automotive, and other application markets including wired communications, industrial, medical, civilian, and military aviation. Among them, consumer electronics is particularly worthy of attention because it is the most abundant and fastest-growing field of application. Microphones, gyroscopes, and accelerometers are all important items in this field.

IHS iSuppli predicts that the MEMS business will continue to grow upwards in the next five years. With the rapid development of MEMS technology, from the early days of inkjet printers and automotive airbags to mobile phones, game consoles, notebook computers, and various novel automotive equipment, the growth of these new application areas is extremely fast, and will become a new MEMS industry innovation. power.