Thanks to the fast-growing use of accelerometers in mobile phones, one sector of the semiconductor industry which will show decent growth this year is the MEMs (Micro-Mechanical Systems) sector, according to US analysts iSuppli.
The market for MEMs used in consumer and wireless applications will grow 6.4% this year, says the company.
Consumer and wireless MEMS revenue will be $1.24bn in 2009, up from $1.17bn in 2008. This contrasts with the predicted 8.2% and 13.1% drops in consumer electronics and wireless equipment revenue in 2009.
"On the consumer side, gyroscopes are helping to drive the growth of MEMS, with revenue rising at a CAGR of 18% from 2008 to 2013," says Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst for MEMS at iSuppli, "these devices are used in products including controllers for video game consoles. As the market for multi-axis gyroscopes develops and these components hit target insertion prices, the market will accelerate for gaming and will pick up for cell phone camera image stabilization as early as 2010."
On the wireless side, growth is being driven by MEMS accelerometers for mobile phones. Owing to the essential role they play in the user interfaces of hot smart phones like the Apple iPhone and Palm Pre, accelerometers are expected to appear in one-third of mobile phones shipped next year, up from one-fifth in 2009.
In such smart phones, accelerometers support features like screen-orientation adjustment when the handset is turned to the side. These capabilities now are spreading beyond smart phones to other types of handsets.
Other MEMS products experiencing fast growth in the wireless market include Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filters used in for CDMA and UMTS phones, whose unit shipments grew faster than 50% in terms of units in the first half of the year. The downside of this fast MEMS unit growth is rapid price erosion. Accelerometers in cell phones now sell for 25% to 30% less than one year ago. Suppliers that are the most aggressive on pricing are gaining the largest market share.
The MEMS microphone market will experience its first annual drop in revenue in 2009, but will recover to double-digit annual growth rates starting in 2010. Other MEMS devices of note are RF MEMS switches and varactors, which should go into production for cell phones in the fourth quarter of 2009 or in the first quarter of 2010.
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