MEMS Industry: Desperately Seeking a Second Wind

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

And what about Bosch and STM, both 2014 winners?

Only one year has passed, but much has changed… 2014 was a successful year for Bosch. “Driven by consumer sales, its MEMS revenue had increased by 20% to top US$1.2 billion,” announced Yole within its 2014 MEMS manufacturers ranking.

Today, despite its five-billion MEMS sensors and its ten years of innovation, both pieces of news announced in 2015, Bosch’s growth was minute in 2015. Its volumes increased but the cost pressures forced the German company to lower its prices. “From a market segment point of view, the consumer industry is slowing down from the unsustainable growth rates observed in the last few years,” announces Guillaume Girardin, Technology and Market Analyst at Yole. And he adds: “Fourth quarter 2015 market figures confirm the trend. This slowdown directly impacts the MEMS companies, including Bosch. In 2015, Bosch’s revenue stabilized mainly due to its expansion of its activities into the automotive sector. Its automotive business unit brings in US$ 800 million revenue, twice as big as its consumer business unit.”

2015 remains a good year for Bosch. Thanks to its BMP280 pressure sensor “design win”, Bosch’s production took off shipping more than one billion components in 2015, with its subsidiary Bosch Sensortec.

STM’s story is slightly different. STM revenues eke out reaching US$ 755 million in revenue in 2015, versus US$ 810 million the year before. With a 7,8% decrease, the company felt the effects of the fierce competition in the inertial MEMS market. To counter this harsh environment, STM came up with different strategic axes: a focus on MEMS-based actuators such as micro-mirrors and autofocus, and a penetration into new market segments such as wearable electronics and automotive. It collaborates with Chinese firms to increase its volumes and fill its production capacity. In parallel, STM is also considering selling of its CIS business… All of these strategies indicate hesitations on the part of STM and do not reveal what the future holds.

Texas Instruments (TI) held onto third place in Yole’s ranking, reaching US$ 735 million in revenue, a 5,5% decrease compared to 2014. Working in a low-volume market, the company still struggles with its DLP sales. However, the trend could reverse in the near future. Indeed, Yole’s analysts stress the appeal of using the MEMS micro mirrors in various applications, for example gesture control, auto focus and smart lighting applications for cars. Today, TI has a full range of micro mirrors solutions for diverse sectors including consumer and also automotive, industry …

The company may be able to offer them valuable solutions. Only time will tell…

2016 might be a challenging year for the MEMS companies. According to Yole’s analysts, market segments that could be great opportunities for the MEMS firms are not yet mature and may not ensure significant volume and revenue as high as in the smartphone industry has. These include:

   •  The IoT bubble is still a niche market today. The main applications are industrial, which do not look for low cost or large volume.

   •  Wearable electronics applications look very promising as part of the consumer industry. However, the high volumes that will come with it have not yet taken off.

   •  Autonomous driving might be the most attractive market segment; but solutions are mainly focused on image sensors, radars and LIDARs .

   •  The medical industry is growing but related its volumes are still very low compared to the total MEMS market.

Nevertheless, Yole still sees some nice opportunities in the emerging but growing demand for pressure and gas sensors, fingerprints and dual cameras shaping the consumer market. Yole believes the future growth of the MEMS market will be a combination of these different applications from smartphones, and wearables to automotive and medical.

Beyond their annual MEMS manufacturers ranking and MEMS market data, Yole’s experts identify disruptive technologies and analyze the evolution of the MEMS solutions and their applications to pinpoint out major trends and business opportunities. According to one of their latest presentations (Claire Troadec, MEMS Executive Congress, Munich, 2016), they stated in particular the necessity, for MEMS solutions, to gain added value first and then stop being haunted by cost pressure and process optimization to avoid shrinking margins… Further analysis and results are available in Yole’s reports all year long. Read more information on i-micronews.com.

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