Record opto, sensors, and discretes sales expected
After 2009 declines, many optoelectronics, sensors, and discretes categories will reach new record levels in 2010 and 2011 as revenue growth continues to outpace overall IC sales, according to IC Insights data.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- EDN, March 25, 2009
The final months of 2008 may have been disastrous and 2009 may continue to show sales declines, but semiconductor sales of optoelectronics, MEMS-based accelerometers, CMOS image sensors, power transistors, and overall discrete devices set record-high revenue levels last year and will return to reach new sales records in the coming years.
That's according to IC Insights, which in its 2009 O-S-D (opto, sensors, and discretes) report, stated that collectively O-S-D sales reached an all-time high of $43 billion in 2008, despite the beginning of the major semiconductor recession late in the year. The market research company's data shows that 
16.5% of total semiconductor revenues were generated by the O-S-D markets in 2008 (see figure).
IC Insights reported that O-S-D revenue growth continues to outpace IC sales on strong annual growth rates in a handful of optoelectronics and sensor product categories. By 2013, the O-S-D markets will represent 17% of total semiconductor sales due to a higher CAGR (compound annual growth rate) than IC revenues in the next five years, according to the 2009 report. O-S-D sales are expected to rise at a 7% CAGR in the 2008 to 2013 period, compared to 6% for ICs overall, IC Insights said.
According to the company's data, nearly all product categories in optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes were flying higher until November 2008, when the economic crisis began to show its weight.
In 2009, IC Insights estimated optoelectronics sales will decline 12% to $16.9 billion. The MEMS-heavy sensors/actuator segment is forecast to drop 26% to $4.1 billion in 2009, and the commodity-filled discretes segment will fall 21% to $14.3 billion, according to IC Insights’ projections.
Total O-S-D sales are forecast to rebound 14% in 2010 and increase another 17% in 2011, reaching a new record-high of $47.3 billion that year, IC Insights said.
According to the company, optoelectronics were driven by strong sales momentum in CMOS image sensors, optical network lasers, and high-brightness LEDs in 2008 and ended the year with revenues up 13% to a record $19.3 billion. On the results, optoelectronics exceeded discretes sales by $1.1 billion in 2008, which marked the first year in history that optoelectronics topped the market for discretes, according to IC Insights. The company predicted that after falling in 2009, the optoelectronics market will grow 15.4% to a new record-high $19.5 billion in 2010.
According to IC Insights, acceleration/yaw sensors sales climbed 23% in 2008 and are expected to drop 19% in 2009. Sales in this MEMS-based chip category are forecast to grow 21% in 2010, followed by another 24% increase in 2011, which will result in a new record high of $1.3 billion that year, IC Insights said.
CMOS image sensor sales hit a record-high $5 billion in 2008, are expected to decline 10% in 2009, and are expected to return with a 23% rise in 2010 to set a new record of $5.1 billion, the company reported.
IC Insights further reported that power transistor revenues reached $10 billion for the first time ever in 2008, but sales in this discretes category are forecast to drop 20% in 2009 due to widespread weakness in all end-use systems markets. Power transistor sales are then forecast to recover in 2010, growing 13%, and will reach a new record high of $10.4 billion in 2011, according to the research.
