Bosch: Rising of the first MEMS titan

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Yole Développement’s yearly analysis of “Top100 MEMS Players”, shows the clear emergence of what could be a future “MEMS titan”: Robert Bosch (Bosch). Driven by MEMS for smartphone sales – including pressure sensors -, Bosch’s MEMS revenue increased by 20 percent in 2014, and totalling USD 1.2 billion. The gap between Bosch and STMicroelectronics now stands at more than USD 400 millionM. “The top five remains unchanged from 2013, but Bosch now accounts for one-third of the USD 3.8 billion MEMS revenue shared by the top five MEMS companies. Together, these five companies account for around one-third of the total MEMS business”, details Jean-Christophe Eloy, President & CEO, Yole Développement (Yole). “It’s also interesting to see that among the top thirty players, almost every one increased its revenue in 2014”, he adds. Top10 MEMS players in 2014

1. Robert Bosch
2. STMicroelectronics
3. Texas Instruments
4. Hewlett Packard
5. Knowles Electronics
6. Avago Technologies
7. Denso
8. Panasonic
9. Qorvo (TriQuint)
10. InvenSense

Among the 10 or so MEMS titans currently sharing most of the MEMS markets, Yole’s analysts have separated them into two categories: Titans with Momentum and Struggling Titans. In the first category, the analysts include Bosch, InvenSense, Avago Technologies and Qorvo. Bosch’s case is particularly noteworthy, since it’s currently the only MEMS company with dual markets (automotive and consumer) and the right R&D/production infrastructure. On the 'Struggling Titans' side, Yole identifies STMicroelectronics, HP, Texas Instruments, Canon, Knowles, Denso and Panasonic. These companies are currently struggling to find an efficient growth engine. Without question, both Bosch and InvenSense are growing, while others like STMicroelectronics and Knowles are suffering a slow-down or MEMS sales decrease. Another interesting fact about Yole’s 2014 TOP MEMS Ranking is that there are no new entrants (and thus no exits). ----- Images: © Yole Développement