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MEMS market looking up, but the numbers still pale compared to chippies |
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Apr 18, 2007 at 11:22 AM |
German consultancy WTC came out with some interesting MEMS market info earlier this week.
The report tallied the top 30 manufacturers and top 10 foundries by revenue in the microelectromechanical systems sector in 2006. They based their findings both on public figures and "validated estimates" that used ASPs and shipments numbers.
Leading the pack was Texas Instruments, which garnered $905 million from DLP and other MEMS device sales. The top 5 was rounded out by inkjet print-head champ Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Bosch, and Lexmark. On the foundry side, IMT took the top spot with $21 million in revenues, followed by APM, Dalsa Semi, Micralyne, and Silex.
WTC's PR did not include certain overall market figures, so I broke out the calculator and ran some additional market numbers. The top 10 manufacturers' total MEMS-based revenues came to $3.722 billion, while the top 30 as a whole rang up $5.488 billion. One figure that WTC did mention was the foundry top 10 segment's total---$131 million---although it did not include companies such as STMicro and Sony, which make decent coin in their contract-manufacturing efforts for HP and Knowles, respectively.
The numbers compiled by WTC show that the MEMS market is healthy and growing at a nice double-digit clip. But it's time for a reality check. I went back to IC Insights' recently issued top 25 semiconductor manufacturers list and played with some of the numbers (again). The top 30 MEMS manufacturers' $5.488 billion would place them (if they were magically merged into one company) 15th on the chipmakers' revenues list, between Micron and Qimonda. A single entity amassing the equivalent of the top 10's total sales---$3.722 billion---would squeak onto the list in 21st place, landing with Matsushita above it and UMC below. The MEMS foundry amount pales in comparison to the chip foundries: even if the STMicro and Sony numbers were added (which would boost the total to more than $400 million), that's only equivalent to the business generated by one of TSMC's megafabs (if that).
Another interesting comparison between the MEMS and chipmaker leaders involves the companies that made both lists. The most obvious one is TI, which added a third-place finish on the chipmaker rolls to its gold-medal MEMS performance. STMicro placed fourth in chips and seventh in MEMS, while Freescale grabbed the ninth position on both lists. Infineon landed in the 15th spot on the MEMS roster and 16th on the chips side.
Given the vibrant forecasts of the MEMS market offered by certain optimistic souls, it will be interesting to crunch these comparative numbers in five or 10 years and see how much, if any, the gap has closed.
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