Defying the downturn in electronics

The report says that global consumer and wireless mems revenue will amount to $1.24billion in 2009, up from $1.17bn in 2008. This contrasts sharply with the 23% decline in overall semiconductor revenue expected in 2009 and also the predicted 8.2% and 13.1% drops in consumer electronics and wireless equipment revenue in 2009. According to iSuppli, on the consumer side, gryoscopes are helping to drive the growth of mems, with revenue rising at a compound annual growth rate of 18% from 2008 to 2013. These devices are used in products including controllers for video game consoles. The report explains that as the market for multi axis gyroscopes develops and these components hit target insertion prices, the market will accelerate for gaming and will pick up for cell phone camera image stabilising as early as 2010. The use of mems accelerometers for mobile phones us driving the wireless side and are expected to appear in one third of mobile phones shipped next year, up from one fifth in 2009. In devices such as iPhones, accelerometers support features like screen orientation adjustment when the handset is held to the side. These capabilities are now spreading beyond smart phone to other types of handsets. iSuppli predicts that the mems microphone market will experience its first annual drop in revenue in 2009, but will recover to double digit annual growth rates starting in 2010.