According to Alexis Debray, PhD. Technology and Market Analyst, Optoelectronics from Yole Development, VPA is the main driver for the audio industry today. Dimitrios Damianos, PhD. Technology and Market Analyst Photonics, Sensing and Display at Yole also said: “An interesting feature of this new application is that it spreads through various systems: smartphones, smart speakers, smart watches, wireless earbuds, cars, smart TVs and...

Yohann Tschudi, PhD. Technology & Market Analyst at Yole Développement (Yole), said “AI has completely disrupted hardware in vision systems, and has had an impact on entire segments.” A good example, is the penetration of Mobileye within the automotive market segment. 

Despite some cyclicality and seasonality, the stand-alone memory market has experienced extraordinary growth over the past decade. This has been driven by important megatrends, such as mobility, cloud computing, AI, and IoT.

  Smartphone ubiquity, sensor miniaturisation, and ease of integration have increased the number of wearable products on the market, to the point where such products are now achieving performance levels suitable for medical use-cases. But how will medical wearables make patients healthier - and why now?

The camera module industry has reached a new stage in its development. With $27.1bn of global revenues generated in 2018, the market maintains a 9.1% CAGR for the next five years. This industry, which covers image sensors, lenses, voice coil motors, illuminators and camera assemblies, is showing an impressive $45.7bn market by 2024. 

In 2018, only robotic vehicles could claim to possess in-car AI. The associated computing market, driven by computers equivalent to what is found in datacenters and associated with rather low volumes, brought the computing market to $156m in 2018. Over the next ten years, with the development of robo-taxis and shuttles, this market will remain the main revenue generator for AI in automotive.

The semiconductor industry showed impressive figures in 2017; +21.6% YoY growth to reach about $412bn. Without a doubt, the industry is entering a new age, where innovation and disruption are the key words. In addition to mobile, Yole Développement (Yole) analysts identified emerging mega-drivers that are step by step changing our world.

As reported in Yole Développement (Yole) ‘microLED Displays 2018 report’, microLED Display technologies are improving rapidly. The report underlines the progresses made over the 18 month period preceding its release, nevertheless, many challenges remain. Last month, a variety of companies presented new microLED displays prototypes at Las Vegas CES.

Eight years have passed since the first commercialised power GaN device. People in the power electronics industry are becoming increasingly familiar with the names of startups that are actively promoting GaN technology. Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), GaN Systems, Transphorm or Navitas, in addition to the power electronics leaders, are also highly involved in the development of GaN technology. 

Reportedly, 2018 could be the year when the uncooled infrared imager and detector market reaches a tipping point with the involvement of big companies. As a consequence, the industry is showing impressive volumes and CAGR. They announced an annual growth of seven percent in value over the 2018-2024 period. 

“The way consumers charge their smart devices is about to drastically change,” asserted Antoine Bonnabel, Technology and Market Analyst and part of the Yole Développement’s Power and Wireless team. According to the ‘Wireless Charging Technologies and Markets 2018’ report, the wireless smartphone charging systems market is expected to surpass one billion units per year by 2024. 

  Over a long period, industrial companies followed up at a distance the development of GaN-based solutions mainly managed by R&D institutes and laboratories. Today the context has changed.

The excitement about microLEDs has grown since Apple acquired technology startup Luxvue in 2014. All major display makers have now invested in the technology and other semiconductor or hardware companies such as Intel, Facebook Oculus and Google have joined the pool. Amidst this flurry of news and activity, a new term emerged in early 2017: miniLED. 

On November 12th, it was announced by Infineon it will acquire Siltectra. Infineon is a well-known semiconductor player and according to Yole Développement (Yole), it is the current leading power electronic device company. But Siltectra is much less well known. Here, Yole explains this acquisition.

Whereas SSL technologies represented 57% of automotive lighting value in 2017, this share is likely to reach an impressive 85% by 2023. According to the market research and strategy consulting company, Yole, the automotive lighting market totalled $27.4bn in 2017 and is expected to reach $37.3bn in 2023 at a 5.3% CAGR during this period. 

The air quality monitoring in cars, homes and other buildings is driving the gas and particle sensor market, according to an analysis by Yole Group of Companies including System Plus Consulting and Yole Développement (Yole). The market was analysed with two dedicated analysis: Gas and Particle Sensors technology & market analysis and Miniaturised Gas Sensor Comparison. 

Enabling megatrends, the power electronics market has grown tremendously last year. Yole Développement (Yole) has discovered a $32.7bn power electronics market in 2017 in its report, ‘Status of the Power Electronics Industry’ published last summer.

“2017 was an unprecedented year for semiconductor industry”, stated Santosh Kumar, Director of Packaging, Assembly and Substrates at Yole Korea, part of Yole Développement (Yole). “The market grow by 21.6% year-to-year to reach record of almost $412bn”. Under this dynamic context, the advanced packaging industry is playing a key role, offering huge opportunities of innovation for the companies involved. 

  The development of new and smart functionalities in smartphone, medical and automotive applications as well as the development of breakthrough devices and functions such as wearables and virtual reality are pushing the growth of the IR LEDs and laser diodes industry. 

Technical innovations in power module packaging are mainly driven by the challenging system requirements of the booming EV/HEV industry and the entrance of WBG materials. The companies Yole Développement (Yole) and System Plus consulting, both part of Yole Group of Companies, have proposed, two dedicated analysis'.