IoT drives sensor market rebound
1 min read
Emerging markets such as the Internet of Things, wearable electronics and the connected car are driving demand for sensors and actuators, says IC Insights.
For the past 10 years, sensors and actuators have been the semiconductor industry's fastest growing market segment, driven by higher levels of embedded control, new wireless sensing applications and intelligent portable systems.
However, in 2013, this normally vibrant category lost momentum. The market was flattened by slow unit growth and price erosion in its two largest sensor product categories; accelerometers/gyroscopes and magnetic-field sensors.
The slowdown had been brewing for a couple years, with sales in this market plateauing in the 2011-2013 timeframe after surging to record high levels from the 2009 downturn.
Now, however, IC Insights says a new wave of stronger growth will begin in 2014 as the global economy improves and new systems applications rejuvenate sales.
Worldwide sales of sensors and actuators are forecast to grow 14% to a new all-time high of $9.9billion in 2014, followed by a 16% increase in 2015 to $11.4bn.
Between 2013 and 2018, the sensors/actuators market is projected to rise by a compound annual growth rate of 11.7% to reach $15.1bn.
Among the market growth drivers identified by the market analyst are multi-sensor smartphone platforms, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) applications, RF filtering actuators, lab-on-chips, fingerprint-identification sensors and sensors for the connected car/autonomous vehicles.
