Market and Technology Trends
Status of the MEMS Industry 2023
By Yole Intelligence —
With well-established players overcoming a global economic downturn, and new entrants bringing disruptive technologies, the MEMS industry should be worth $20B by 2028.
YINTR23353
- Glossary
- Definitions
- Report objectives
- Identity card
- Methodologies and definitions
- About the authors
- Companies cited*
- What we got right, what we got wrong
- This is the 20th edition of our “Status of the MEMS industry”
- Three-Page summary
- Executive summary
- Context
- Wearables: the three waves
- Context in the Automotive Industry
- Context in the Industrial Market
- Context in the Medical Market
- Context in the Defense market
- Megatrends related to MEMS adoption
- Market forecasts
- Forecasts by end market
- Forecasts by Device
- Market trends
- New MEMS products since Q3 2022
- Evolution of smartphone requirements
- RF market trends for smartphones
- Evolution of TWS requirements
- Body temperature measurement trends
- From existing TPMS modules to smart TPMS
- The electrification of cars & pressure sensors
- MEMS Inkjet Printheads
- Microbolometer market trends
- Silicon microfluidics in biotechnology applications
- Machine Health Monitoring market trends
- Optical MEMS
- Road active noise cancelling in BEVs
- MEMS Timing
- Environmental sensing
- MEMS Microspeakers
- Hearing aids market trends
- Ultrasonic MEMS
- Market shares and supply chain
- General Overview
- Business Model Diversity
- MEMS Ecosystem
- Foundry Map
- The MEMS industry is still in expansion
- Partnerships of the year
- M&As for the year
- Market Share by MEMS Devices
- Macroeconomics Affecting MEMS
- Inelasticity of the MEMS industry
- Supply vs. Demand
- Average selling price evolution
- Chinese ecosystem – towards oversupply?
- Chinese MEMS ecosystem evolution
- Polarization of the MEMS industry
- General Overview
- Technology trends
- Evolution of markets driving MEMS requirements
- Key trends along the value chain
- Design Technology Trends
- Increasing penetration rate of MEMS technology
- Increase in sensor fusion or combination
- Material Technology Trends
- Piezo-MEMS popularity
- Emerging devices with glass material
- Why use SOI wafers for MEMS?
- Emerging microfluidic devices with silicon material
- Equipment Technology Trends
- Advent of 12" MEMS manufacturing
- Manufacturing Technology Trends
- Better vacuum control for MEMS resonators
- Emergence of TGV connections
- Optimization of integration
- Signal Processing Technology Trends
- Edge processing
- What’s happening in R&D centers and universities?
- Photonic gyro with MEMS and photonics
- Micromagnet trends
- Rapid and cost-efficient microfabrication techniques
- From Technologies to Markets
- Maturity of MEMS devices
- Emerging MEMS devices and time-to-market
- Mature device technology roadmap
- Emerging device technology roadmap
- Conclusions & Outlook
- Yole group related products
Despite the current downturn, there are solid long-term drivers
MEMS devices are part of everyday life, found in a variety of systems from smartphones to cars to fighter jets. Thanks to this application diversity, the volumes, and associated revenues can be significant.
Because of last year’s macroeconomic situation and some underperforming end systems, especially smartphones, the overall number of MEMS devices shipped decreased from 31.3Bunits in 2021 to 30.9Bunits in 2022: a -1% YoY. In terms of revenue, the market actually increased from $14.2B in 2021 to $14.5B in 2022, a +2.5% YoY, mainly due to inflation and higher ASPs. However, we should keep in mind that these dynamics do not reflect industry interest in MEMS devices but rather are due to the influence of worldwide events and future uncertainty surrounding the MEMS industry, as is the case for all industries.
In terms of long-term growth, we see ever-growing traction for MEMS devices, mainly driven by megatrends in all end markets.
- In the consumer industry, we foresee general stagnation in the integration of new sensors in smartphones. Still, we see ever-growing interest in MEMS devices in wearables such as smartwatches and TWS earbuds. We are still expecting the advent of AR/VR headsets in the long term – 2030 – which will generate volume for inertial sensors, microphones, and MEMS micromirrors for LBS. Also, with the rising global awareness of indoor and outdoor air quality, environmental sensors will be used in air purifiers, thermostats, and residential HVAC systems. Finally, new MEMS technologies could arise and replace traditional technologies, such as MEMS microspeakers, MEMS OIS, or MEMS cooling.
- The automotive industry is going through a massive transformation, mostly driven the electrification of cars and autonomous driving. Starting with the electrification of cars, we expect an overall reduction in the number of MEMS sensors being used in BEVs in the very long term: 2030 and beyond. However, growth is expected in other car segments. ADAS and safety applications will require MEMS motion sensors to be used for GNSS positioning, MEMS micromirrors to be used in new LiDAR systems, microbolometers to be used for AEB, etc. Direct tire pressure measurement is also shifting from traditional TPMS modules to smart TPMS modules, integrating an accelerometer and a pressure sensor to monitor the load conditions of the car and the wheel’s tread depth. We also see an increasing interest in in-cabin comfort, which will generate opportunities for MEMS microphones, environmental sensors, ultrasonic solid-state buttons, and so on.
- With megatrends such as Industry 4.0 and warehouse automation, we will witness a long-term transformation of the Industrial end-market. By transitioning from traditional ships, trucks, forklifts, etc., to AGV and intelligent factory vehicles, the number of motion sensors, microphones, ultrasonic sensors, etc., will undoubtedly increase. Also, the probe card market (included here in the Industrial end market) is also poised to grow, mainly driven by the overall increase in the semiconductor market, but also the will to return to on-shore manufacturing and have more resilient supply chains for strategic players.
- The Medical end market is also expected to generate sales for MEMS and sensors in the coming years. The greatest traction will come from the advent of OTC hearing aids, which will create a new market for MEMS microphones, microspeakers, and motion sensors. Moreover, we see the expanded use of ultrasound in diagnostics and handheld point-of-care ultrasound probes using CMUT and PMUT for remote healthcare.
- The growing data traffic in all countries will lead some Telecom devices, such as optical MEMS and MEMS-based oscillators to grow in the coming years.
- Fostered by the Ukraine-Russia war and the geopolitical tensions between the US and China, governments’ Defense and Aerospace budgets have risen again lately and will continue to rise by the end of decade. Innovation and technology will be the only way to differentiate, so the need for precise sensing in drones, missiles, fighters, and so on will lead the defense MEMS market.
A polarization of the MEMS Industry?
Macroeconomics had a major influence on the semiconductor industry last year. Firstly, equipment shortages delaying capacity expansion affected the available MEMS offerings. Also, players were still facing some remnants of the ASIC chip shortage, and the ASP of MEMS increased because of inflation and higher operating costs. The situation also affected demand for MEMS devices, with inventory imbalances in all end markets and a significant consumer downturn, leading to weak smartphone, TWS, and tablet sales, which continued into H1-2023.
These effects have affected the growth pattern of the MEMS ecosystem:
- Leaders in the MEMS industry have continued to grow or at least maintained their positions thanks to their high-end devices integrated in flagship consumer end-systems which have been less affected by the downturn, and automotive applications. For instance, Bosch had a strong overall 12% growth, managed to launch new disruptive devices, and gained market share in the automotive segment. Qualcomm also grew with a 21% YoY thanks to its leading position in 5G. STMicroelectronics also had a satisfactory year – 5% YoY growth – with a ramp-up in the automotive end market. Moreover, some of these players are leaders in their device/technology, with dedicated know-how, and so are not suffering as much from competition.
- Players focused on mature devices with less innovation and high volumes have suffered and are expected to keep suffering from the downturn due to fewer sales at lower and lower prices with increasing operating costs.
If demand does not pick up rapidly, we should see this gap widen between leaders and the rest of the competition.
Moreover, the China/US trade war has accelerated Chinese semiconductor (and MEMS) ecosystem development. Hence, through funding and incentives, the Chinese MEMS ecosystem is growing by the day. The long-term effects of this push are still unclear. Will it allow Chinese companies to increase the quality of their MEMS and compete with European and American companies at lower prices? Or will it create a massive local over-supply and sabotage the ecosystem by killing the margins of all local players because of excessive competition? Or should we expect a greater consolidation of the Chinese ecosystem? Let’s wait and find out!
In any case, one business model is going pretty well: the MEMS foundry. In terms of total revenue, the MEMS foundry business grew by 6% YoY and reached almost $770M. In addition to inflation and higher wafer prices, which have boosted revenues, some IDMs are reconsidering their business model because of high operating costs and are shifting to fabless models. Moreover, the main foundries saw a surge of customers in the last few years, looking for collaboration on new MEMS technologies.
Key trends in the mems value chain
MEMS are ‘More than Moore’ technologies, meaning added functionality and higher integration. The development of MEMS products differs from the development of other ICs, such as logic, memory, analog, etc. Usually, the manufacturing process must be adapted to the specification of the final product. This leads to higher development costs and longer development times but also offers the opportunity to launch products with unique selling propositions that cannot be easily copied.
Nowadays, MEMS market challenges are evolving. To sustain growth in this industry, MEMS need to be optimized in terms of efficiency, form factor, cost, robustness, and intelligence. These needs create prevalent technology trends throughout the value chain: from design and integration to software.
- In addition, we see 12" MEMS manufacturing increasingly becoming a reality. Beyond the additional capacity it brings, we see other key advantages for 12-inch manufacturing in terms of miniaturization and overall equipment availability & quality. For now, only TSMC is working on 12" wafers for Butterfly Networks, but there have been several announcements lately: Bosch is building up a 12" manufacturing line in Germany, and Zen Semiconductor is building one in China. Others might follow within the decade, such as STMicroelectronics. But knowing the overall MEMS industry is growing with a 5% CAGR22-28 …who will actually be able to sustain the CapEx? Is it really possible to have a fully dedicated 12-inch line for MEMS? Or is it necessary to run devices other than MEMS with enough growth potential (e.g., power electronics) on the line to sustain the overall CapEx? Let’s wait and see…
- MEMS sensor makers are trying to break free of the commoditization cycle and move up the value chain by adding software, processing, and computing capabilities to MEMS sensors, giving them extra functionalities. A path is being beaten for applications combining MEMS sensors with AI/ML/DL on the edge or in the cloud. Approaches include pre-processing and sensor fusion from TDK InvenSense, Bosch, STMicroelectronics, Melexis, etc., or intelligence at/on/in the edge from Bosch, STMicroelectronics, Aspinity with Infineon, Syntiant with Infineon, etc.
Though this report has existed in various iterations for 20 years now, the MEMS industry is still bringing disruptive technologies and applications to the table. Thanks to the global semiconductor economy of scale, we see an increasing penetration rate of MEMS technologies replacing traditional sensors & actuators. Indeed, we see devices such as gas sensors, optical image stabilizers, processor coolers, energy harvesters, and so on, being developed with MEMS processes for cost efficiency, miniaturization, and power consumption improvements. To succeed in this industry, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of the market: a growing total accessible market, a technology with a true added value for specific applications, and enough funding and support to sustain fierce competition against an established industry. But with all these new players, technologies, and megatrends, the future of the MEMS industry looks bright!
A-STAR, AAC Technologies, Abbott, Aeponyx, AKM, Akoustis, AlphaMOS, Alps Alpine, Amphenol, Analog Devices, Anello Photonics, Apple, Arioso, ASAIR, Asia Pacific Microsystems, ASMC, Aspinity, Atomica (Ex Imt), Audiopixels, Beijing Zhixin Tech, Blickfeld, Boehringer Ingelheim Microparts, Bosch, Broadcom, Butterfly Network, Canon, Cartesiam, CEA Leti, Colibrys, Collins Aerospace (Ex Utc), Cirrus Logic, Chongqing Silian Sensor Technology, CRMicro, CSEM, Denso, DRS, Earth Mountain, EPCOS, EpicMEMS, Epson, eXo Imaging, Figaro, Flusso, Formfactor, Fraunhofer IPMS, Fujifilm Dimatix, Gettop, GMEMS Technologies, Goermicro, Goertek, Google, Guide IR (Global Sensor Technology), GWIC, Hanking Electronics, Heimann Sensor, Hewlett Packard, Hikvision (Hikmicro), Honeywell, HuaHong Grace, Huntersun, Hypernano, IceMOS, Illumina, IMEC, Infineon Technologies, InfiRay, Instrumems, IonTorrent, Knowles Electronics, Lynred, Maxim, Mekonos, Melexis, MEMJET, MEMSCAP, MEMSDrive, MEMSensing, MEMSIC, MEMSonics, MEMSRight, MenloMicro, Merit Sensor, Merry Electronics, Microchip (Micrel), Microfab, Micronit, Minebea Mitsumi (ex-OMRON), Mirrorcle, Murata, Nanox, Novosense, NXP, Okmetic, Omnitron Sensors, One Silicon Chip Photonics, OQmented, Oriental System Technology Inc, Panasonic, Partron, Philips Engineering Solutions, Posifa Technologies, Preciseley, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Raytheon, Ricoh, Resonant, Robosense, Rohm, Safran Sensing Technologies (Sensonor & Colibrys), Samsung, Sappland Microelectronics, ScioSense, Semefab, Senba Sensing Inc, Sensata, sensiBel, Sensirion, Sercalo, Silicon Austria Labs, SiTime, Silex Microsystems/SMEI, Silicon Design Inc, Silicon Sensing Systems, Sheba Microsystems, SilTerra, Sintef, SITRI, SkyWater Technology, Skyworks, SMIC, SMECS, Sofant Technologies, Soitec, Sonic Edge, Sonion, Sony, Stathera, STMicroelectronics, Syntiant, Taiyo Yuden, TDK Group, TDK Invensense, TDK Tronics, TE Connectivity, Technoprobe, Teledyne FLIR, Teledyne MEMS (Dalsa/Micralyne), Texas Instruments, TowerSemi, TriEye, VectorFab, Vesper, VIS (Vanguard International Semiconductor – Ex Globalfoundries), VTT, TSMC, Ultrasense, UMC, Usound, Winsen, X-Fab, xMEMS, Zero Point Motion, Zilltek, and more.
Key Features
- The latest updates on MEMS market volumes, ASPs, and revenues for calendar 2022. It provides an overview of MEMS’ best future growth opportunities and key market drivers.
- A detailed view of the ecosystem development product-wise and funding-wise and the main stakeholders involved. A detailed analysis of the MEMS market shares is included, along with the foundry business analysis, giving a comprehensive view of the MEMS ecosystem.
- A broad overview of the technology trends in MEMS: from manufacturing through to packaging. The report also provides some key comparisons between MEMS and competing technologies on disruptive applications.
What's new?
- 2018-2028 forecasts in units and revenue for MEMS devices.
Product objectives
This report is an update of Yole Intelligence’s best-selling “Status of the MEMS Industry” report, which was first released in 2003 (20 years ago).
This new version provides:
- The latest updates on MEMS market volumes, ASPs, and revenues for calendar 2022. It provides an overview of MEMS’ best future growth opportunities and key market drivers.
- A detailed view of the ecosystem development product-wise and funding-wise and the main stakeholders involved. A detailed analysis of the MEMS market shares is included, along with the foundry business analysis, giving a comprehensive view of the MEMS ecosystem.
- A broad overview of the technology trends in MEMS: from manufacturing through to packaging. The report also provides some key comparisons between MEMS and competing technologies on disruptive applications.
This report thoroughly summarizes the 2022 MEMS industry’s status, taking into account the trends for each device/application. The report was finalized at the end of June 2023; therefore, the data is the best and latest available.