Image sensor sales will rise 31 percent to record $8.5 billion in 2010

SCOTTSDALE, USA: With demand for digital cameras, camera phones, and machine-vision systems recovering, sales of image-sensor devices are forecast to grow 31 percent in 2010 and will reach a new record high of $8.5 billion after falling 19 percent in 2009, according to IC Insights' new 2010 Optoelectronics, Sensors, and Discretes (O-S-D) Report.

The 2009 decline was the worst suffered by image sensors since the 2001 semiconductor recession, when this optoelectronics market segment fell 24 percent. The projected 31 percent rise in 2010 will be the greatest annual sales increase for image sensors since 2004, when the market surged by 76 percent.

Worldwide image sensor growth continues to be driven by applications for CMOS-based devices, which will account for 61 percent of sales in the market this year compared to 39 percent coming from charge-coupled devices (CCDs), concludes the O-S-D Report.

The new report's forecast shows CMOS image sensors sales rising 34 percent in 2010 to a record-high $5.2 billion from nearly $3.9 billion in 2009, when revenues fell 16 percent due to weak demand in the economic recession. Between 2009 and 2014, CMOS image sensor sales are projected to increase at a 17 percent CAGR, reaching $8.3 billion in the final year of the forecast period (Fig. 1).Source: IC Insights, USA.

CMOS image sensors dominate high-growth portable systems applications, such as camera phones, Webcams in notebook computers, and other embedded cameras in handheld products, but new specialized and higher-speed CMOS imagers are also being aimed at automotive systems, medical equipment, and wireless video security networks.

CMOS imaging devices are also employed in optical mouses, toys, and video games (see figure). With 65nm processes now being applied to some new devices, CMOS image sensor pixel densities are rivaling those of CCDs, which still are generally better at capturing higher quality digital images, especially in low-light conditions. Integration of imaging processing circuits and higher-speed pixel rates are enabling CMOS devices to replace CCDs in more applications.

Meanwhile, CCD image sensor sales are forecast to rise 27 percent in 2010 to $3.3 billion after falling 24 percent in 2009 to $2.6 billion. CCDs, which continue to dominate digital still cameras, video camcorders, scanners, and other machine imaging applications, are expected to set a new sales record in 2011, when dollar volumes reach nearly $3.7 billion and exceed the current annual peak of $3.5 billion set in 2006.

IC Insights' 2010 O-S-D Report shows CCD sales growing at an 8 percent CAGR in the five-year forecast period, reaching $3.8 billion in 2014.

Total image sensor sales continue to be the largest segment in the optoelectronics market. In 2009, image sensor revenues (at $6.4 billion) accounted for 35 percent of the $18.3 billion optoelectronics market, followed by solid-state lamp devices (primarily LEDs), which represented 31 percent of the sales total (at $5.7 billion), according to IC Insights' new O-S-D Report.

The light-emitting diode (LED) product category is now increasing at a much higher rate than image sensors due to strong growth in high-brightness LEDs, which are used to illuminate flat-displays in digital TVs and LCDs in cellular smartphones and other portable systems as well as in emerging solid-state room lighting products. By 2014, total LED sales will be roughly equal to image sensors at $12.1 billion, based on the report's forecast.

Source: IC Insights, USA.