Tablets, cars to drive CMOS market growth

According to the latest data from Yole Développement, CMOS image sensor market is expected to grow at an 11 per cent CAGR in revenue from 2012-2017, growing from $6.6 billion this year to $11 billion in 2017. Many different applications are driving the integration of CMOS image sensors. If mobile handsets accounted for nearly 65 per cent of total shipments last year, many new applications are poised to drive the future growth of this industry. Three fast emerging applications of significant size should drive the growth of the market to an expected CAGR more than 30 per cent—tablets, automotive and smart TV.

Tablets are poised to boost CIS sales in the consumer market. The majority of tablets have one or two cameras, similarly to mobile phones. We forecast that the CIS sales for tablets will represent nearly $1.5 billion in 2017. From another standpoint, car manufacturers have begun equipping cars with multiple cameras, pushed by upcoming regulations promoting greater safety and driver assistance. The automotive market is expected to reach $400 million in 2017, and will drive the need for high-performance sensors with special features, e.g. global shutter, very high dynamic range and low-light sensitivity. This is completely different from the phone market that is still in the race for higher resolution.

As volumes increase, a clear duality appears between companies that have adopted a growth strategy by focusing on low-end markets and those opting for a specialisation in high-end and higher margin markets to maintain profitability such as ST and Aptina.