2014/11/10 by Huang Yaowei
The battle in the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) market is intensifying. Targeting IoT opportunities, both veterans and newcomers in the MEMS chip market are actively launching offensives to seize various sensor application territories. Among them, major Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs) are fiercely competing for multi-functional integrated (Combo) solutions, such as 6-axis or 9-axis sensors; meanwhile, new entrants from Taiwan and mainland China are targeting the massive demand for accelerometers and magnetometers in low- to mid-range products, rapidly ramping up production.
Max Lai, General Manager of iSentek, stated that driven by consecutive waves of design demand from mobile and IoT devices, the shipment volume of MEMS sensors is continuously expanding. This encourages existing IDMs to heavily expand their next-generation motion sensor product lineups and accelerate development toward more forward-looking, single-chip Combo sensor designs. At the same time, it is attracting many emerging fabless MEMS companies from Taiwan and mainland China to grab a slice of the pie, causing the MEMS market competition to rapidly heat up.
In fact, IDMs such as STMicroelectronics (ST) and Bosch Sensortec, along with InvenSense—whose technical capabilities are quite comparable—began laying the groundwork for highly integrated, small-sized, and low-power IoT MEMS System-in-Package (SiP) technologies as early as 2013. This sparked a design craze for 6-axis (accelerometer plus magnetometer or gyroscope) and 9-axis solutions. Recently, Bosch Sensortec and STMicroelectronics introduced new-generation single-chip processes and various R&D achievements in environmental sensors, which are expected to accelerate the realization of 9-axis MEMS System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions.
In addition to the Combo technology race sparked by major manufacturers, MEMS newcomers are also emerging to seize the market. This includes Taiwanese companies like Richtek, iSentek, Sitronix, and mCube, as well as mainland Chinese companies like MEMSIC and QST, all actively using cost-effective accelerometers and magnetometers to capture territory in the low- to mid-priced mobile and IoT device markets.
Max Lai further analyzed that because accelerometer technology and the market are already quite mature, the focus of competition among manufacturers lies in price. As for magnetometers, the current state is one of fierce contention, with various companies possessing certain performance and cost competitiveness; thus, it is the most intensely fought battleground. In the future, once mobile devices and IoT applications incorporate advanced functions such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Indoor Navigation, magnetometer developers will need to significantly improve product precision and reduce sizes to firmly establish a foothold in the market.
Fude Yuan, Senior Principal Engineer at iSentek, revealed that currently, only magnetometer suppliers like AKM, Yamaha, and iSentek can develop magnetometers with dimensions as small as 1.2 mm × 1.2 mm. This forms a technological barrier and is expected to accelerate vendor consolidation. Regarding magnetometer precision, future AR will demand accuracy with less than a 1% margin of error, which will pose a severe challenge to traditional Hall Sensor designs. Consequently, this is expected to drive the rise of manufacturers adopting new technologies, leading to a shift in market share dynamics.
Fude Yuan emphasized that in response to the strict precision requirements for magnetic sensing in next-generation mobile and IoT devices, iSentek has developed an exclusive patented miniature sensor structural design and utilizes two-directional magnetic setting technology to significantly improve product precision and anti-interference capabilities. This is expected to gradually carve into the market share of established magnetometer suppliers.