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

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

The Global MEMS market was valued at USD 10.92 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 18.88 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 8.71%, during the forecast period of 2021-2026. The increasing popularity of IoT in semiconductors, increasing demand for smart consumer electronics and wearable devices, and growing adoption of automation in industries and homes are some of the significant factors influencing the growth of MEMS market.

Key Highlights

• Wearables constitute an important step in the evolution of IoT and a new application domain for MEMS sensors. MEMS for such products are leveraging thin, flexible printed circuit boards for a better form factor. As standard form factors still use consumer MEMS devices, the pressure is building on MEMS vendors for further reduction of sensor package height and footprint. This would make the end product have a better product look and feel, with added functionality.
• MEMS plays a key role in the field of automation industries. The sensitivity, reliability, and scalability, along with cost-effective design, have been offered by the MEMS technology. It provides more opportunities in the field of automation. The industry relies on these technologies for higher throughput and production rate with less time. MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes are ideal for use in a wide range of industrial automation applications. With their minute size, high reliability, and low power credentials, the MEMS sensors can play a vital role in virtually any piece of the industrial automation machinery.
• MEMS in the chip industry has viewed immense growth as technology companies globally accelerated innovation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for tiny devices are behind advances in the areas of electronics, thus, ranging from thermal imaging and faster point-of-care testing to microfluidics-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools and techniques to detect SARS-CoV-2.
• Medical, telecom, mobile, and consumer sectors are expected to recover much faster than the automotive sector and drive the MEMS market. Currently, most MEMS research is catered to benefit societal causes, such as public health, robotic-assisted surgery, and gastrointestinal tract and brain imaging. Also, as respiratory symptoms are linked to COVID-19, strong demand for ventilators has led to an increased need for pressure sensors and flowmeters. These are essential for managing gas exchanges and controlling the air pressure blown out and into the patient’s lungs.
• MEMS companies have very limited access to the MEMS fabrication facilities or foundries, for prototype and device manufacture. Additionally, most of the organizations expected to benefit from this technology currently do not have the required capabilities and competencies, to support MEMS fabrication, which directly impact the standardization of fabrication.

Key Market TrendsConsumer Electronics is Expected to Grow Significantly

• Consumer electronics products, such as smartphones, utilize a wide array of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and various other sensors in their design. Furthermore, these sensors are increasingly integrated into premium-grade smartphones, mainstream phones, and wearables, such as fitness trackers and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Since, MEMS sensors are often smaller in size, exhibits lower cost, and lower power as compared to discrete sensor equivalents. Additionally, they can integrate signal conditioning circuitry in the same semiconductor package. Due to these reasons, MEMS gyroscopes experienced a huge adoption rate.
• Since the last few years, there has been a considerable progress in the evolution of semiconductors, passives, and interconnects, in order to enable high-precision data acquisition and processing. However, there are still requirements to be fulfilled for sensors that can operate at temperatures up to 175°C, particularly in the easy-to-use form factor provided by microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
• Vendors in the market are targeting emerging opportunities in the segment to add new avenues for sales, for instance, in Jan 2021, InvenSense presented its new SmartMotion sensors at the CES 2021. The company showcased its two high-performance motion-tracking solutions with dedicated bundled software for IoT, robotics, smart TV, AR, VR, and wearable applications. The ICM-40627 and the ICM-42688-V are primarily a high precision ultra-low-power and premium high performance 6-axis MEMS motion tracking device combining a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer in 2.5mm x 3mm x 0.9mm packages.
• Indoor navigation is also one of the most interesting applications for MEMS pressure sensors, where the air pressure data is interpreted in order to determine the user's current floor level in a building. Additionally, indoor localization is essential for accurately identifying a caller’s location, when they call emergency services. For instance, in the United States, the Federal Communication Commission already updated its E911 rule, primarily mandating that the location of a 911 caller be automatically transmitted to emergency responders. Furthermore, all smartphones are expected to require a pressure sensor for the purpose of accurately pinpointing a caller’s location inside a large building.
• Emerging economies, such as India, have witnessed the fall of data costs by 95% since 2013, resulting in a tremendous growth of smartphone users. According to ASSOCHAM data, the number of smartphone users in the country is anticipated to double from 468 million users in 2017 to around 859 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 12.9%.​ Such significant volume growth in smartphone adoption will create a demand for MEMS such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and others at a similar rate.

Asia Pacific Region is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share

• Asian countries, such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, significantly contribute to process control and product manufacturing. Moreover, it is home to some prominent market vendors and contracts fabrications companies (fabs), such as TSMC. In addition to that, supportive government regulations aimed at passenger safety, industrial automation, environment monitoring, etc., also make Asia-Pacific substantial buyers of MEMS sensors.
• South Korea is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of semiconductors across the globe. According to Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, the country’s exports in 2020 accounted for USD 992 billion compared to an import of USD 503 billion. The country is home to some of the significant memory chip makers that include Samsung and SK Hynix. The robust semiconductor industry in the country is creating opportunities for MEMS manufacturing.
• The Japanese Government has developed a foundation for future growth by accelerating its digital policy and plan and Society 5.0 vision. Such efforts also create growth opportunities for the market for MEMS in the country. Also, there has been tremendous growth in autonomous vehicles in Japan, with Honda recently getting permission to launch its autonomous cars for roads. The increase in the autonomous vehicles fleet is also leading to the growth of the MEMS market.
• China is investing heavily in building a MEMS supply chain as part of its Made in China 2025 initiative. The three-year action plan for the development and the policy aspect of Made In China creates a robust growth in sensors from crucial technology, R&D, and applications. In terms of technology, the policy focuses on supporting R&D of critical technologies such as sensors, MEMS, new material sensors, skin micro-electromechanical systems, and others.
• China, Japan, and South Korea's senior population is expected to increase the demand for healthcare services over the forecast period, thus, providing opportunities for devices, such as ventilators, inhalers, dialysis, and blood pressure monitoring devices, which constitute MEMS market. Japan and South Korea, which are among the countries having high healthcare expenditure, also pose significant scope for the market. In addition, the Chinese government's healthcare plan, Healthy China 2030 Plan, also aims at providing essential health services to every citizen by 2030.

Competitive Landscape

The MEMS market is highly competitive and is currently dominated by a few players in the Asia-Pacific, followed by those in the Americas and Europe. The global market is expected to be consolidated in nature, and the major players with a prominent share in the market are focusing on expanding their customer base across foreign countries by leveraging on strategic collaborative initiatives to increase their market share and their profitability. Broadcom Inc., Robert Bosch GmBH, STMicroelectronics N.V., Texas Instruments Inc., Qorvo Inc., among others are some of the major players present in the current market.

• April 2021 - Qorvo Inc. acquired NextInput, Inc., a MEMS-based sensing solutions provider. The acquisition expands the Company’s offerings of MEMS-based products for mobile applications and provides comprehensive sensing solution opportunities for a broad range of applications in other markets.
• Jan 2020 - InvenSense, a TDK Corporation has launched the T5818 Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) microphone with a dynamic range of 107dB at 590µA, the widest dynamic range in the industry at the lowest power. The T5818 microphone features 66dBA SNR, 135dB SPL AOP, at 590 µA in High Quality Mode (HQM) and decreases power consumption to 215 µA in Low Power Mode (LPM). This is solidifying TDK’s performance leadership in MEMS microphone technology.

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