MEMS Sensor Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

MEMS Sensor Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The global MEMS sensors market was valued at USD 11,686.2 million in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 16,857.0 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period (2021-2026). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain types of MEMS sensors have significantly spiked in demand. For instance, the demand for thermopiles and microbolometers used in temperature guns and thermal cameras has increased because of the need for contactless monitoring of people's temperatures. Moreover, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests for detecting COVID-19 and microfluidics for DNA sequencing are gaining substantial market relevance. The latter serves as a premier method of detecting a bacteria or virus on the molecular level with high degrees of accuracy. Furthermore, pressure and flowmeters in ventilators will grow because of hospital intensive care units (ICUs).

Key Highlights

• Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors offer multiple advantages, such as accuracy and reliability, in addition to the potential to make smaller electronic devices. As a result, they have gained considerable traction in the past few years. Miniaturized consumer devices, such as IoT-connected devices and wearables, are the emerging applications of MEMS sensors in the market.
• The key drivers for the market studied include the growing safety concerns for the automotive industry and the emergence of automation of industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is poised to significantly impact the coming few years as it is widely adopted in multiple industrial settings post COVID-19 scenario. Also, the growing safety concerns in the automotive industry, especially in the future, where there is substantial usage of autonomous vehicles, are poised to drive MEMS sensors' use in such applications.
• Moreover, Pressure sensors are expected to witness the fastest growth rate as they are utilized in multiple application areas, such as biomedicine, automotive electronics, small home appliances, wearable, and fitness electronics. Other MEMS sensors, such as microphones (sound sensors) and ultrasonic MEMS sensors, environmental sensors, and microbolometers, are expected to hold a prominent share in the market studied.
• In March 2021, US-based Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a semiconductor test handler company, received repeat orders from automotive customers for multiple Zeus gravity test handlers configured for MEMS high-power and pressure IC testing applications. Zeus handlers have a flexible range for MEMS pressure sensing test cells and offer high voltage levels in a production handler for testing IGBT, MOSFET, gate drivers, GaN, and SiC power semiconductors.
• Further, the factors challenging the market's growth include the increase in the overall cost of MEMS sensors implementation due to interface design considerations and the lack of standardized fabrication process of MEMS. The standardization in MEMS is undoubtedly not as advanced as it is for conventional semiconductor processes and model environments. However, the standard procedure is bound to happen in the next few years, making the impact of the challenge gradually low in the next few years.

Key Market TrendsAutomotive Sector is Expected to hold a Significant Share

• The automotive sector describes MEMS sensors (such as MEMS pressure, MEMS acceleration, and gyroscope sensors) in the automobile industry and the intelligent automobile. The development direction of MEMS sensors is projected in the automotive field. It is widely used in engine e(ABS), electronic stability program (ESP), electronic control suspension (ECS), electric hand brake (EPB), slope starter auxiliary (HAS), tire pressure monitoring (EPMS), the car engine stabilization, angle measurement, and heartbeat detection, and adaptive navigation system inside the car.
• The growing demand for safety and security in automobiles is one of the main factors, which is playing a vital role in the market's growth. According to the WHO, globally, more than 1.35 million people are killed in road accidents every year. The MEMS sensors play a critical role in improving the safety features of the vehicles and act as a catalyst for the growth of the market.
• Moreover, in October 2020, technology company Continental planned to strengthen its LiDAR sensor portfolio through a minority investment in LiDAR pioneer AEye Inc. In June 2020, AEye Inc. announced that its 4Sight MEMS sensor based on patented intelligent perception system design had established a new standard for sensor reliability. In testing completed at NTS, one of the most respected testing, inspection, and certification companies in the United States, the 4Sight M scan block surpassed automotive qualification for both shock and vibe.
• Bosch is the most prominent automotive sensor manufacturer. It stated that its new MEMS sensor – the SMI230 – is an exact sensor that constantly registers changes in the vehicle's direction and speed, evaluates the information, and transmits it to the navigation system. The data is combined with the positional data from the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and used for navigation.
• Further, with the development of new intelligent vehicles, such as new energy vehicles and driverless vehicles, in the future, MEMS sensors may occupy a more significant share in the automotive sensor market.
• In January 2021, at CES, InvenSense presented its vast portfolio of innovative MEMS sensor technologies. For instance, it released the IMU IAM-20685 high-performance automotive 6-Axis MotionTracking sensor platform for ADAS and autonomous systems and TCE-11101, a miniaturized ultra-low-power MEMS platform for direct and accurate detection of CO2 in home, industrial, automotive, healthcare, and other applications.

Asia-Pacific is Expected to Account For Significant Market Share

• Asia-Pacific is expected to be the largest market for MEMS sensors due to economies such as India, Japan, and China, along with the increasing growth of the consumer electronics and automobile segments.
• China has witnessed significant growth in the usage of MEMS sensors in the past few years due to an increase in its automotive and consumer markets and the export of smartphones, tablets, drones, and other microsystem and semiconductor-enabled products. Multiple MEMS sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, and radio frequency (RF) filters have been imported into China for product assembly.
• Moreover, the Chinese government also views its automotive industry, including the auto parts sector, as one of the prominent industries. The country's Central Government expects China's automobile output to reach 35 million units by 2025. This is posed to make the automotive sector one of the prominent uses of MEMS sensors in China. However, the country's Association of Automobile Manufacturers revised the predictions for 2020, forecasting an almost 10% drop in sales for the first half of the year and 5% for the entire year, based on the COVID-19 pandemic.
• According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the Indian appliances and consumer electronics (ACE) market are expected to register a CAGR of 9% to reach INR 3.15 trillion (USD 48.37 billion) in 2022. To boost this product, the government has taken several initiatives, including National Policy on Electronics 2019, which aims to promote domestic electronic manufacturing and export a complete value chain to achieve a turnover of approximately USD 400 billion by 2025. Such government initiatives in the region are estimated to drive the studied market growth.
• Furthermore, India's automotive industry is well-positioned for growth economically and demographically, serving domestic interest and export possibilities, which will rise shortly. As a part of the Make In India scheme, the Government of India aims to make automobile manufacturing the main driver for the initiative. The scheme is poised to make the passenger vehicles market triple to 9.4 million units by 2026, as highlighted in the Auto Mission Plan (AMP) 2016-26. This factor is expected to raise the adoption of MEMS sensors in the automotive sector of the region.
• Further, In June 2021, Japan-based Minbea Mitsumi Inc. announced that Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd, a company subsidiary, agreed with Omron Corporation to acquire the semiconductor and MEMS fabrication plant and its MEMS product development function in OMRON's Yasu facility through MITSUMI. The acquisition of the MEMS sensor business will lead to the strengthening of the sensor business, which is one of the prominent businesses of Mitsumi.

Competitive Landscape

The MEMS sensors market is highly competitive and consists of numerous significant players. In terms of market share, few significant players currently dominate the market. These major players with a prominent share in the market focus on expanding their customer base across international countries. Additionally, these companies are continuously innovating their products to increase their market share and increase their profitability.

• March 2021 - Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd has developed a new MEMS six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) inertial sensor for GNSS positioning support, autonomous off-highway vehicles and dynamic inclination sensing. Murata’s new SCHA63T sensor is a single package 6DoF component. It can enable centimeter-level accuracy in machine dynamics and position sensing, and can assist in ensuring safe, robust, and verified designs.
• November 2020 - STMicroelectronics has opened a 200-mm (8-inch) semi-conductor wafer production line for MEMS devices at its manufacturing plant in Italy. The company is amongst prominent MEMS manufacturers in the world to manufacture equipment on 200mm wafers, contributing to reducing the unit costs of MEMS components and speeding up the development of current and new MEMS applications.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

STMicroelectronics N.V.
InvenSense Inc. (TDK Corp)
Bosch Sensortec GmbH (Robert Bosch GmbH)
Analog Devices, Inc.
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Kionix Inc. (ROHM Co Ltd.)
Infineon Technologies AG
Freescale Semiconductors Ltd (NXP Semiconductors NV)
Panasonic Corporation
Omron Corporation
First Sensor AG (TE Connectivity)

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