Opto, sensor/actuator, and discrete records will tumble in 2010

SCOTTSDALE, USA: As the strong semiconductor industry recovery continues, more than a dozen new sales records for product categories will be set this year in the optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes (O-S-D) market segments, according to IC Insights' fifth-edition 2010 O-S-D Report.

Laser transmitters are forecast to top the list of O-S-D products setting new record high sales, increasing 35 percent in 2010 to $358 million. CMOS image sensors and MEMS-based sensors/actuators—both markets with more than $5.0 billion in sales—are each forecast to grow 34 percent in 2010.

O-S-D sales are being driven by strong demand for solid-state lighting products (for backlit displays in portable computers, LCD-TVs, cellphones, and other handheld systems as well as emerging new high-brightness LED-based illumination applications), CMOS image sensors, optical network laser transmitters, MEMS-based accelerometers and other sensor/actuator devices, and power discrete semiconductors (Fig. 1).Fig. 1: Source -- IC Insights, USA.

Though not forecast to set a new record in 2010, actuator sales are expected to increase 36 percent in 2010. Actuator sales fell three straight years, but are forecast to climb to $3.4 billion in 2010—about $50 million short of the all-time record of $3.45 billion set in 2006, according to the 2010 O-S-D Report.

Built with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, actuators are getting a much-needed boost from strong shipments of radio-frequency (RF) filters and switches as well as MEMS oscillators, and from recovery in microfluidic devices and micro-mirror chips, which are being used in small digital projectors in handheld devices and new 3-D movie systems for theaters.

Actuator sales are expected to set a new record in 2011, when dollar volumes grow 19 percent to $4.1 billion, according to the report's forecast.

Total sales in each of these three semiconductor markets—opto, sensors, and discretes—are also expected to reach record-high levels in 2010 after falling in 2009.

Optoelectronics sales are forecast to rise 27 percent in 2010 to $23.3 billion, while the total market for sensors/actuators is expected to surge by 33 percent to $6.8 billion. The commodity-filled discrete semiconductor market is projected to see its largest growth in 15 years with a 29 percent increase to $19.7 billion in 2010.

Detailed forecasts in the report show combined O-S-D revenues growing 29 percent in 2010 and reaching $49.8 billion (about 16 percent of total semiconductor sales with 84 percent coming from IC products).

O-S-D sales growth is expected to slightly exceed the rate of increase in IC sales during the 2009-2014 forecast period. In five years, O-S-D revenues are expected to account for 17 percent of the semiconductor market.