CIS: Sony still leading the market

A 5.1% CAGR between 2022 and 2028 is announced in Yole Intelligence's yearly analysis. The market should reach $28.8 billion at the end of the period.

CIS player market shares: there are no changes in the Top 5 compared to the year before. Sony is still leading the market with a 42% market share.

The CIS industry is pushed by technological innovations linked to performance, integrability, and new sensing capabilities.

2022 has been a transition year for the CIS industry. In the Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry report, Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group analysts see similar revenues to the year before and a slight decline in overall volumes. However, a significant transformation is underway in the market structure, as evident in the growth of the automotive segment and the increase in the CIS average selling price.

There is a trend for custom CMOS image sensor products for mid- and low-volume differentiated markets, including niche markets, that do not face the same performance and cost pressure as higher-volume markets such as mobile, automotive, and consumer. Currently, numerous companies are adopting this approach."

Sony is again increasing its commanding position while Omnivision has retreated to close to its pre-COVID-19 market share. Samsung also reduced its footprint, apparently to the benefit of SK hynix. Onsemi saw an exceptional 2022, boosted by the automotive and industrial markets. GalaxyCore and SmartSens have retreated, apparently due to the disinflation of the low-end mobile and security camera markets.

The economic conflict between the U.S. and China has left its mark on the geographically competitive CIS landscape. Initially, the U.S. sanctions on Huawei mainly hit Sony while boosting the Chinese CIS players. The latter then prospered thanks to domestic market opportunities in consumer, automotive, and security. However, in 2022 the bubble burst in the security market, while the U.S. efforts to hit Chinese semiconductor firms also translated into CIS suppliers.

With the slowdown in the mobile and computing market and the recent temporary drop in the security CIS market, Chinese CIS suppliers aim to decrease their exposure to these markets and gain market share in those that are thriving and deliver higher value and ASP: Automotive and industrial. In addition, the domestic market ensures a high demand for these applications.

Overall, there are ongoing investments to either secure capacity, including for logic wafer production, or develop in-house technologies as a strategic vision to get further market share.

From a market perspective, Yole Intelligence announces a return to steady growth. CIS revenues stagnated in 2022, at US$21.3 billion, in the continuity of a soft-landing situation compared to the largely inflated growth experienced in previous years. The general inflation in 2022 translated to a significant slowdown in consumer product sales, such as smartphones: Yole Intelligence's imaging analysts estimate a 10% decrease.

However, higher-end CIS products and new sensing opportunities will sustain the mobile CIS market in the coming years. In addition, automotive cameras are experiencing good growth enabled by in-cabin, viewing, and ADAS applications, promoted further by safety regulations.

In parallel, the share of the mobile CIS market should continue to decrease compared to the growing share of automotive, security, and industrial CIS, with the resulting product mix maintaining the overall ASP beyond US$3.

"We have adjusted downward our long-term CIS forecast, with a 5.1% revenue CAGR from 2022 - 2028, and the resulting CIS revenues should reach US$29 billion by 2028", explains Domengie.

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