Bosch and ST top MEMS supplier ranking

According to a report from IHS iSuppli, the top 20 MEMS manufacturers last year accounted for a whopping 77% of the industry total of $8.3billion. "Competition in the MEMS market is intense," said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS. "Nowhere is the rivalry more furious than the battle for the market's top spot. In fact, the content for number one is so closely contested that Bosch and STMicroelectronics battled each other to a draw in 2012." Foremost among all the players in the top 20 ranking were the four companies at the top, which each reported revenues between $675 and $800m. Bosch, the number three entity in 2011, enjoyed a MEMS revenue boost of 8% last year, including a nearly 5% uptick in its primary automotive MEMS business. STMicroelectronics, meanwhile, counted on a robust consumer and mobile business to jump from the number four spot to number one. Falling out of the number one spot was Texas Instruments, which slipped down to number three after reporting a 3% drop in revenue to $751m. At the number four spot was Hewlett-Packard, with revenue of $677m. HP also suffered a drop in ranking, down from number two in 2011, as revenue associated with its inkjet printer heads contracted 10% last year.