Status of the MEMS Industry 2024

Glossary  

Definitions  

Report objectives  

Identity Card  

Methodologies and definitions  

Companies cited*  

What we got right, what we got wrong  

Three-Page summary 

Executive summary 

Context  

• Wearables - the three waves
• Context in the Automotive end-market
• Context in the Industrial end-market 
• Context in the Medical end-market 
• Context in the Defense end-market 

Market forecasts

• Forecasts by end market
• Forecasts by device

Market trends

• Smartphones MEMS business
  • Opportunities in consumer wearables
  • Evolution of TWS earbuds requirements
  • Wearables functionalities
  • AR/VR market trends
• Automotive – significant transformations
  • Legacy applications for inertial sensors 
  • From existing TPMS modules to smart TPMS 
  • Thermal runaway monitoring
  • In-cabin air quality monitoring – what’s at stake
  • Thermal imagers 
• Continuous improvements in Medical MEMS
• Other key market trends in the MEMS industry
  • Machine Health Monitoring
  • MEMS Timing

Market shares and supply chain

• General Overview 
• Business Model diversity
• Main news since Q2-2023 
• MEMS Ecosystem analysis 
• Foundry Map 
• Bullwhip effect 
• Top MEMS foundries ranking
• Market Shares by MEMS Device 
• Consolidation levels by device 
• MEMS wafer analysis 
• Chinese ecosystem – towards oversupply?

Technology trends  

• 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 
  • Emerging microfluidic devices with silicon material 
• Equipment Technology Trends 
  • Advent of 12" MEMS manufacturing 
• Manufacturing Technology Trends 
  • Emergence of better vacuum control for resonators 
  • Optimization of integration 
• Signal Processing Technology Trends 
  • Returning intelligence close to the sensor 
• What’s happening in R&D centers and universities? 
• From Technologies to Markets 
• Maturity of MEMS devices 
• Issues for MEMS Development, past and present 
• Emerging MEMS devices and time-to-market 

Conclusions & Outlook  

Yole Group related products  

About Yole Group  

Back to normal

MEMS devices are part of everyday life and are 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.

In 2023, the MEMS industry fell to $14.6M (-3% YoY decline), mostly due to the downturn in consumer electronics and economic cycles. Despite this relatively tough year for the MEMS industry, we expect the market to grow again in 2024. Indeed, almost 34Bunits will be shipped in 2024 (9% YoY), totaling $15.6B in revenue. In terms of long-term growth, we see ever-growing traction for MEMS devices, mainly driven by megatrends in all end markets – sensorization of consumer electronics devices, autonomous driving and comfort in cars, Industry 4.0, emergence of AI, etc.

Hence, we expect the pretty solid 5% CAGR23-29 (revenue and volume) to lead volumes to reach almost 43Bunits and revenues to reach $20B by 2029

After the storm, a brighter horizon?

Although a couple of players had a good year (mostly because they got new design wins or because they managed to increase their market shares somehow), 2023 was a difficult year for MEMS players. The consumer downturn affected the end-system demand, high inventory levels in the supply chain created supply unbalances, and the automotive end-market slew down. Moreover, the inventories at the customer level forced sensor makers to cool their production levels, lowering foundries utilization rates and, thus, sales.

In terms of players, the trio Bosch, STMicroelectronics, and TDK keeps leading the MEMS sensors market, while Broadcom and Qorvo lead the RF MEMS market. Bosch kept relatively stable revenues, while TDK outgrew the market, offsetting the decline of STMicroelectronics. Broadcom lost a significant share of its FBAR business at Apple, and Qorvo took back a portion of the business with its BAW SMR.

The foundry business was also relatively flat last year, decreasing by 1% YoY. Most sensor makers decreased their orders because of lower demand for their sensors at the top / end-system level or because of excessive inventory levels in the channels. However, this decrease was globally offset by the continuous growth of players entering the MEMS industry with new designs and technologies.

Western companies still leading … but for how long?

In terms of overall production levels, we estimate that almost 4Mwafers have been processed in 2023 in the MEMS industry, and we expect volumes to grow to 5M in 2029.

In terms of geographic distribution, we believe that almost 60% are processed in Western countries (North America and Europe), ~19% in Japan, and the rest in Greater China and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore). We should see mainland China grow its manufacturing share in the coming years despite reshoring trends…

The growing number of MEMS companies and foundries is creating massive over-supply locally and is killing the margins of most players at the moment. If demand does not pick up rapidly, should we expect more Chinese companies to go bankrupt or to stop MEMS activities? Or will this lead to a greater consolidation of the Chinese ecosystem? How many of these companies will receive the financial support needed to survive?

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, UNT (SMEC), 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, VectorFab, Vesper, VIS (Vanguard International Semiconductor – Ex Globalfoundries), VTT, TSMC, Ultrasense, UMC, Usound, Winsen, X-Fab, xMEMS, Zero Point Motion, Zilltek, and more.

This report is an update to Yole Intelligence’s best-selling ‘Status of the MEMS Industry’ report, which was first released in 2003, 21 years ago.

Key Features 

• The latest updates on MEMS market volumes, ASPs, and revenues for the calendar year 2023.
• An overview of the wafer production levels by wafer size, technologies, fab, locations, etc.
• A detailed analysis of MEMS market shares and a foundry business analysis are included, giving a comprehensive overview of the MEMS ecosystem.
• A broad overview of MEMS technology trends from manufacturing to packaging.

What’s new?

• 2019-2029 forecast by end-market and by device
• Updated market shares for all devices
• Wafer start analysis (by fab, technology, substrate, size, etc.)

Report's objectives

This new version provides:

• The latest updates on MEMS market volumes, ASPs, and revenues for the calendar year 2023. It provides an overview of the most promising growth opportunities and key market drivers for MEMS.
• An overview of the wafer production levels by wafer size, technologies, fab, locations, etc.
• A detailed view of ecosystem development in terms of both products and funding and the main stakeholders involved. A detailed analysis of MEMS market shares is included, along with a foundry business analysis, giving a comprehensive overview of the MEMS ecosystem.
• A broad overview of MEMS technology trends from manufacturing to packaging. The report also provides some key comparisons between MEMS and competing technologies for disruptive applications.
• This report thoroughly summarizes the state of the MEMS industry as of 2023, taking into account the trends for each device/application. The report was finalized at the end of June 2024 and as such uses the best and latest data available.