September 20, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) vendors comprise multi-national electronics corporations and MEMS-centric and small-portfolio companies. The market will grow as tablet/smartphone adoption increases, and MEMS makers co-opt the economies of scale that other semiconductor segments have used to reach maturity, according to ABI Research’s analysis.
Large multi-national and multi-product MEMS suppliers include STMicroelectronics, Bosch, Texas Instruments (TI), and Freescale Semiconductors. The smaller-portfolio, focused suppliers list names VTI, InvenSense, and Memstech, among others.
The smartphone/tablet market for MEMS sensors and audio devices will be worth more than $1.5 billion in 2016, ABI Research reports. Certain segments of the market have emerged with continued strong growth potential, including MEMS inertial sensors and microphones. The smartphone and media tablet markets are the driving forces behind this growth.
"The MEMS market is going through a transition period, as many other semiconductor market segments have when approaching maturity," said Peter Cooney, practice director, semiconductors. "Leading vendors understand that to be successful in consumer electronics markets, you have to have economies of scale and be able to supply a broad range of solutions."
As markets mature, component integration is the key to success, reducing bill of materials (BOM) cost and board space while offering customers ease of design and reduced time to market. To this end, vendors are racing to diversify and increase product portfolios. This is driving M&A activity in the MEMS market. Over the next few years, the number of vendors addressing high-volume MEMS markets will shrink as larger suppliers acquire companies to increase product offerings and use their expanding portfolios to further integrate and achieve market dominance.
ABI Research’s latest report, "MEMS Vendors: A Competitive Analysis," is available at http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1007834. It provides overviews of 50 MEMS vendors and an in depth look at 15 major vendors, including SWOT analyses, product portfolios, and vendor profiles. It is part of the Automotive Technology, MEMS, and Mobile Device Semiconductors research services.