MEMS markets on the rebound!

NEW TRIPOLI, USA: The MEMS device market is faring much better than the overall semiconductor industry but, the MEMS processing equipment market is suffering the same fate as the semiconductor equipment market, according to the report: The Global MEMS Device, Equipment, and Materials Markets: Forecasts and Strategies for Vendors and Foundries, recently published by The Information Network.

MEMS devices cover a broad spectrum of products such as accelerometers, digital mirror displays, gyroscopes, micro fluidic devices, microphones, and pressure sensors.

Since they are such a diverse lot, the have fared better than the overall semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry declined 2.8 percent in 2008 and is projected to drop another 21.6 percent in 2009. The MEMS device market, in contrast, grew 1.2 percent in 2008 and is projected to increase 1.7 percent in 2009, according to the report.

"The MEMS equipment market dropped 37.5 percent in 2008 and we project a further drop of 31.2 percent in 2009, decreases similar to the 32.5 percent drop in 2008 and our projected 41 percent drop in 2009 for semiconductor equipment," noted Dr. Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.

“Fortunately, the MEMS equipment market started to rebound in Q2, while we don’t see an uptick in the semiconductor equipment market until mid-Q3,” he added.