Record sales continue in optoelectronics, sensors and discretes

SCOTTSDALE, USA: Slightly above average growth rates in 2011 will lift sales of optoelectronics, sensors and actuators, and discrete semiconductors to new record-high levels again this year following unprecedented increases in the 2010 recovery year, according to IC Insights' newly completed 2011 Optoelectronics, Sensors, and Discretes (O-S-D) Report.

The new 350-page annual report shows the optoelectronics market growing 11 percent to $26.4 billion in 2011, sensor/actuator sales increasing 15 percent to $8.5 billion, and discretes dollar volume rising 8 percent to $23.4 billion this year.

Sales growth in these three semiconductor market segments is being driven by strong demand for accelerometers and gyroscope sensors built with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs), optical-network laser transmitters, CMOS image sensors, and power transistors, according to the market analysis in O-S-D Report 2011.

In the strong 2010 semiconductor recovery from the 2009 downturn year, the optoelectronic, sensor/actuator, and discrete markets racked up impressive gains with combined O-S-D revenues rising 37 percent to a record-high total of $52.9 billion (Fig. 1).

The 2010 increase was the highest annual growth ever recorded for total O-S-D sales. Due to a relatively weak recovery in image sensors, 2010 optoelectronics sales grew "just" 30 percent to $23.9 billion, which was the fifth largest increase for this market in three decades. Meanwhile, sensors/actuators sales surged 45 percent in 2010 to $7.4 billion, which was the greatest increase ever for this industry category, while discretes revenues climbed an astounding 42 percent to $21.6 billion, which was the highest percentage growth for this commodity-filled semiconductor market since the 1970s.

While much of the 2010 increase in O-S-D sales was driven by the economic recovery and the need to refill depleted inventories, substantial real market growth occurred last year--going beyond just making up for lost growth in the downturn. When the combined effects of the 2009 slump and 2010 recovery are added together, all three O-S-D market segments exceeded their normal annual average growth rates in the two-year period (see figure). All three segments also reached new annual sales records in 2010.

Fig. 1Source: IC Insights, USA.

The new O-S-D Report shows seven product categories setting new sales records in 2010: lamp devices (i.e., LEDs); optocouplers and switches; pressure sensors; acceleration/yaw sensors; magnetic-field sensors; power transistors; and rectifiers.

Total sales for all MEMS-based sensors and actuators also climbed 47 percent to a new record-high $6.2 billion in 2010. In addition to new all-time peaks being set again in these seven product categories and MEMS-based devices in 2011, IC Insights is forecasting new sales records being reached in total image sensors, CMOS image sensors, actuators, and diodes.

Source: IC Insights, USA.