CMOS image sensor growth will come from emerging applications in the next five years

Market research firm IC Insights predicts that sales of CMOS image sensors will grow by 13% in 2011 to reach US$5.1 billion, exceeding the previous growth peak of US$4.6 billion in 2008; the agency estimates that the CMOS image sensor market It will continue to expand the territory with a compound annual average growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2% between 2011 and 2015 and reach a revenue scale of US$7.6 billion in 2015.

By 2015, CMOS image sensors will account for 66% of the overall image sensor market; this proportion is about 58% in 2010. As for the CCD image sensor, it is still the mainstream application program for consumer digital cameras, video cameras, scanners and copiers. Its market share was 42% in 2010, but the proportion will shrink to 34% in 2015.

After experiencing a recession in 2009, the CMOS image sensor market recovered its sales by 17% to reach US$4.5 billion in 2010. However, compared with the overall semiconductor industry growth rate of 32% in the year, the performance of the CMOS image sensor was only marginally satisfactory. The camera phone application contributed 62% of the overall CMOS image sensor sales in 2010, and it is predicted that the ratio will be reduced to 49% in 2015.

IC Insights also stated that although there have been some mergers and acquisitions in the image sensor market, there are still more than 35 suppliers in the world continue to actively strive for CMOS image sensor designs, including camera phones and consumer digital cameras. And embedded webcams (laptops) for laptops and tablets are the bulk.

In addition, IDM's CMOS image sensor manufacturing capacity has shifted from the 8-inch wafer process to the 12-inch wafer process, which will result in larger shipments of CMOS image sensors and also bring greater price pressure on the market. In addition to having more production capacity on the pipeline, the shrinking of semiconductor technology to 65 nanometers and sensor element specifications exceeding 16 million pixels means that the market needs new applications in order to maintain double digit growth over the next five years.

IC Insights stated that it predicts that the CMOS image sensor market in 2011-2015 will achieve 11.2% CAGR. The growth drivers are smart video cameras, medical imaging equipment, toys, game consoles, and other devices that come from automotive security systems, security surveillance network applications, and others. Emerging applications.