Image Sensor Sales to Grow 31% in 2010

EETimes, Digitimes, IC Insights: With demand for digital cameras, camera phones, and machine-vision systems recovering, sales of image-sensor devices are forecast to grow 31% in 2010 and will reach a new record high of $8.5 billion after falling 19% 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%. The projected 31% rise in 2010 will be the greatest annual sales increase for image sensors since 2004, when the market surged by 76%.

Worldwide image sensor growth continues to be driven by applications for CMOS-based devices, which will account for 61% of sales in the market this year compared to 39% coming from CCDs. The new report's forecast shows CMOS image sensors sales rising 34% in 2010 to a record-high $5.2 billion from nearly $3.9 billion in 2009, when revenues fell 16% due to weak demand in the economic recession.

Between 2009 and 2014, CMOS image sensor sales are projected to increase at a 17% compound average growth rate (CAGR), reaching $8.3 billion in the final year of the forecast period. Meanwhile, CCD image sensor sales are forecast to rise 27% in 2010 to $3.3 billion after falling 24% 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% CAGR in the five-year forecast period, reaching $3.8 billion in 2014.