Feb 27 2015
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry report" report to their offering.
The CMOS Image Sensor market will reach US$16B by 2020!
Even if smartphone applications still take the lion's share of the market, many different applications are part of CIS' growth story. Automotive, medical, and surveillance are areas where great opportunities have surfaced and are driving the market and technology efforts of existing and new players. Our 2015 report covers all of these opportunities.
On the other hand, some CIS segments have suffered sharp decline. With feature phone cameras and digital still-cameras being replaced by more widely-used smartphone cameras, players in these applications are suffering, which is leading to industry consolidation. We have seen a high level of M&A activity in 2014, which should continue in 2015.
Exciting new emerging market trends are relevant to the CIS industry. In mobile, the addition of the secondary front-facing camera is already old news, as all high-end handsets and smartphones now have two cameras. In fact, Chinese manufacturers are actually pushing for higher resolution secondary cameras. This significantly impacts the average selling price (ASP) of micro camera modules, and is causing low-end players to abandon their focus on submega pixel production and move toward 5Mp+ territories. Naturally, this has had a major impact on the capital expenditures and technology portfolio roadmaps of these CIS mobile players. This trend is even more crucial for main rear cameras, where compactness and performance are pushed to the extreme. Mobile has become a high-performance/high-volume domain in which one player has excelled so far: Sony Corp.
Automotive is the big story this year, as car manufacturers like Tesla, Nissan and Ford are showing off their first camera-enabled features. Market traction is particularly impressive, with most CIS players enjoying growth rates of 30% - 50%. But this is only the beginning, with most CIS players looking at this market, total revenue should reach US$800M in 2020 - for CIS sensors only. Automotive's emerging importance promises profound implications for the CIS ecosystem. As CIS moves from a for display application towards a for sensing application, new players such as processor and software providers will become key partners for sensor design and marketing.
Technology: a key driver for CMOS Image Sensor industry:
Since 2010, the rise of back side illumination (BSI) has been well documented, and has now become a mainstream technology that's captured more than 50% of CIS production. BSI was the necessary technological step for reaching a pixel size of 1.4µm - 1.1µm. This converted 8Mp+ cameras into smartphones and 24Mp+ into DSLRs.
Size constraints in mobile have pushed 3D stacking BSI, which currently has 20% of the market. This approach is particularly interesting, as it separates the pixel array's technology node from the digital part's technology node at a time when sensors are integrating more and more features, for example Autofocus (AF) and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).
BSI, 3D Stacked BSI and 3D Hybrid are all key technologies covered in our 2015 report.
The roadmap for future CIS technology adoption is fueled by three constraints/drivers:
- Size (X, Y and Z of the camera module)
- Image quality (resolution, low light performance, focus and stabilization)
- Functionality (slow-motion video, image analysis, motion control)
With green lights for all of these drivers, a gamechanging technology called dual cameras could grab signifi cant market share in a short time and drive CIS industry volume and revenue.
Objectives Of The Report:
- CIS revenue forecast, volume shipments and wafer production by application
- Market share with detailed breakdown by player
- Application focus on key CIS growth areas: mobile, DSLR, automotive, medical, security, machine vision, etc.
To provide key technical insight and analysis about future technology trends and challenges:
- Manufacturing technologies: design and front-end innovations
- Device technologies: CIS application across market
- Technology focus on game-changing areas such as BSI and 3D stacked BSI
What's New:
- Updated 2014 - 2020 market forecast
- Segmentation modifications, plus stronger focus on security and tablet devices
- New in-depth market segment dynamics analysis
- Updated new technologies status: 3D stacked sensors and hybrid stacked sensors
- Company profiles for main players and foundries