“Status of the MEMS Industry”, a report from Yole Développement

A complete description of the different MEMS markets

« MEMS will continue to see steady, sustainable double digit growth for the next six years, with 20% compound average annual growth in units and 13% growth in revenues, to become a $21 billion market by 2017”, announces Laurent Robin, Activity Leader, Inertial MEMS Devices & Technologies at Yole Développement. Yole Développement expects continued strong growth in motion sensing and microfluidics as those sectors will increasingly come to dominate the MEMS market totals, making up almost half of the overall market in 2017, with accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and combos accounting for about 25% of the total, and microfluidics for 23%. To better track important developments in inertial, Yole Développement has broken out a separate category for combo sensors in our market data and forecasts this year. According to Yole Développement, the market for discrete inertial sensors will begin to decline, but the growth for inertial combo solutions will be huge. Though currently less than $100 million niche, we expect combos to be a $1.7 billion opportunity by 2017.

Almost all MEMS players had a growth in sales in 2011 compared to 2010. Companies involved in inertial sensors and microphones are growing the most.

Strategic MEMS business models analysis

In MIS 2012, Yole Développement analyzes the different MEMS players’ business model. A focus is made on STMicroeletronics and Bosch case studies. STMicroeletronics is currently becoming a leader in the MEMS market, hardly challenged by Robert Bosch.

STMicroeletronics has been able to diversify its MEMS offer with a wide range of MEMS devices and 90% of its IDM business done with 2 devices only (accelerometers, gyroscopes). It has anticipated the growth with early investment in high-volume manufacturing infrastructure with a 8’’ production line. Today, STMicroeletronics has entered into diverse partnerships to speed time to market and enlarge product offering. On the other hand, Bosch benefits from the fab infrastructure primarily dedicated to automotive applications to decrease price.

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New MEMS devices are coming with CAGR > 90% for some of them!

Every year brings new business in the MEMS landscape. Today, combo sensors are reshuffling the cards in the competitive landscape. But the MEMS market is still very fragmented, with a number of high volume MEMS applications still limited today. However, a whole range of new MEMS devices now reaches the market and new “emerging MEMS” devices are coming as well. Some of them have the possibility to ramp up to large volumes quickly: especially those that can be applied to mobile devices (RF MEMS switches, oscillators, auto-focus…).

-New sensors (humidity, touchscreen,…) and actuators (switches, energy harvesting…) are driving future growth.
-In addition to those emerging MEMS, growth of the MEMS market will also come from existing sensors that are expanding into new market spaces, sometimes using new types of integration (e.g. pressure sensors).

MEMS acquisitions have skyrocketed in 2011

In 2011, both the number and values of MEMS transactions have boomed. A total of $1.7B MEMS acquisition value has been realized in 2011.

Early stage MEMS companies are acquired at high prices (e.g. SensorDynamics, Pixtronics…) because there are a limited number of candidates which are private and have a solid technology, which make them increasingly attractive given the expansion of the MEMS market and the willingness of many large companies to enter this area.

Catalogue price: Euros 3,990.00 (single user license) - Publication date: July 2012.