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Status Report on CMOS Image Sensor Industry

Reviewed

Feb 4 2014

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry 2014" report to their offering.

As major technology changes continue to reshape the industrial landscape, a 10% CAGR is forecast for the CMOS image sensor market from 2013 - 2018. The market will reach a total value of US$13B by 2018, driven by consumer and automotive applications.

Many different applications are driving CMOS image sensor integration.

It's likely that the consumer market will benefit from new mobile technologies. As such, we foresee consumer applications (tablets, DSC etc.) to be the growth driver over the next five years (which is the opposite of the previous five years, which were driven exclusively by mobile applications).
Moreover, after being dominated by CCD, DSC applications are now shifting towards CMOS. And while DSLR will be a substitution market, the next wave is likely to be automotive applications, which could become CIS' third big market.

Indeed, the CIS sensor market in automotive is showing steady growth, which is expected to continue in the coming years; possibly become CIS' third-largest CIS market. Automotive also demands new technologies such as high dynamicrange sensors and near infra-red response, and will benefit (with appropriate optimization) from technology developments in the handset market.

A shift from driving assistance applications to security-based applications may imply significant quality and reliability design improvements in the near future, possibly leading to traditional automotive product providers entering the market with more exuberance.

Many other emerging applications are also set to drive CIS' future growth, such as wearable electronics (i.e. smart watches), machine vision, security & surveillance, and medical applications. These applications are likely to be in position for strong growth in the mid and long-term.

The Big 3 are likely to maintain their leadership, thanks to advanced technologies and strong production capacity

For each application, different market dynamics exist between competitors. In the handset market, we believe the Big 3, Omnivision, Samsung and Sony, will continue to dominate thanks to advanced technologies, a large installed capacity and a costoptimized manufacturing machine, while secondtier players must overcome economic and technical challenges to stay competitive.

In the consumer market, major Japanese companies will still lead in DSLR, and it's likely to stay that way since they're vertically-integrated (although some CIS companies have announced dedicated products). Automotive is a highly concentrated market, with 95% served by the top five suppliers.

The strong move in the CIS markets from major player such as SONY's pushes other companies to a fablight / fabless strategy. Indeed, this evolution has started already with companies like Aptina and STMicroelectronics. As they are stuck with limited volumes and struggling because of fierce competition from both high-end and very low-end players, they need to outsource or co-develop their leading edge production (as their volumes are not high enough to invest in the prohibitively expensive infrastructures).

Key Topics Covered:

1. What we saw, what we missed

2. Changes for the 2013 report

3. Report objectives & scope

4. Executive summary

5. Introduction & background

6. Market forecasts & supply chain

7. Application focus

8. New & future technologies

9. Conclusions

10. Appendix

Companies Mentioned: