The latest global MEMS TOP 30 list: China's sensor technology has lagged behind the West by 2~3 generations, and 4.5 Chinese companies have entered!

Recently, Yole, a well-known market consulting and research organization, released "Status of the MEMS Industry 2025" - this is a more in-depth and influential research data on the global MEMS industry. This article will provide an in-depth look at some of the latest insights from the report: Western sensor companies have accelerated the development of AI-enabled smart sensors; China's sensor technology lags behind the West by 2~3 generations; The rapid expansion of China's MEMS production capacity has brought about overcapacity concerns; In the global MEMS TOP 30 list, 4.5 Chinese mainland MEMS companies have entered; consumer electronics dominate the global MEMS industry, accounting for 89% of the share; MEMS device shipments will exceed 31 billion in 2024, and the industry will recover...... The most important trend of MEMS sensors in the next 5 years, China's sensor technology lags behind the West by 2~3 generations, and Western companies are accelerating the research and development of intelligent sensors! Here, let's first look at an important trend that will occur in 2024 and will lead the development of global MEMS sensor technology in the future - intelligence. Although the slogan of smart sensors has been shouted for many years, with the popularization of AI large models, starting from 2024, the development of global smart sensors will enter the fast lane and will fully replace traditional sensors. At Sensor Shenzhen 2025 held at the end of March this year, we interviewed Zhang Hailiang, Director of Marketing and Business Development in Greater China of Bosch Sensortec Gmbh, the world's largest MEMS company, who has already mentioned that smart sensors will be Bosch's most important sensor R&D strategy in the next five years, and set a flag: by 2027, 90% of Bosch sensor product shipments will be smart sensors (with intelligent and programmable functions) It is expected that by around 2030, Bosch will ship about 10 billion smart sensors. For more information, see: Outbreak! The world's largest MEMS company sold 5 billion sensors in 2 years! (will bet on this track) Now, in Yole's latest "Status of the MEMS Industry 2025" industry report, the explosion of smart sensors is once again highlighted. Yole believes that as market demand continues to grow, participants need to provide smart sensor solutions to stay ahead of the MEMS innovation race. In this, Western sensor giants continue to be at the forefront: major players are already involved, although they have adopted different approaches such as preprocessing (edge intelligence) and sensor fusion. These companies include TDK InvenSense, Bosch, STMicroelectronics, and Syntiant (formerly Knowles, consumer business), among others. These companies have recently released new products for the consumer and industrial markets (Bosch's BHIXXX series, ST's IIS2DULPX, etc.). Western companies are advancing the development of embedded smart sensors, while Chinese companies seem to be lagging behind, with sensor technology two or three generations behind. However, Yole also emphasized in the report that Chinese manufacturers are expected to bridge this gap and catch up in the coming years. However, it is still unknown whether Chinese manufacturers will be able to catch up. In smart sensors, the sensor is endowed with intelligent processing capabilities by integrating MCU (micro control unit).Yole analyzed that from a manufacturing cost perspective, integrated MCUs affect manufacturing costs, accounting for 13% of the cost in smart IMUs and 23% of the cost in smart microphones. While the cost increase of smart sensors brings with increasing MCUs compared to traditional sensors, the increase in cost is worth it, and smart sensors are an important way for MEMS sensor manufacturers to increase their own value, and the importance of sensor intelligence is comparable to sensor performance improvement itself: While improving performance remains a core focus, integrators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are increasingly pushing to embed computing capabilities into sensor modules, transforming them from standalone sensors to fully functional smart modules. Today, inertial measurement units (IMUs) are no longer just providing acceleration or spatial orientation information, but can also detect artifacts for functions such as wake-up functions, spatial audio, and enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). By implementing chip-level Stage 1 data processing, this can reduce the load on the CPU and minimize the need for cloud data transmission, resulting in lower power consumption, reduced latency, and enhanced data privacy. For example, in smartwatches, sensor co-integration and data fusion are driving innovation that not only enables health monitoring but also provides actionable guidance to improve athletic performance, sleep quality, and overall well-being. In TWS headphones, despite their compact form factor and limited battery capacity, more sensors are integrated to support advanced features such as enhanced active noise cancellation (ANC), 3D audio, voice recognition, hearing assistance, and health tracking. Smartwatches, TWS headphones, and other products all put forward more functional requirements for sensors, which require sensors to be more customizable and "smart" to meet specific needs.

Judging from the development trend of the global MEMS industry in 2024, the industry has gradually emerged from the haze of the epidemic and is moving towards recovery and growth in an all-round way. An important trend in the global MEMS industry in 2024 is the acceleration of intelligence, Bosch, TDK, STMicroelectronics and other world-leading MEMS sensor manufacturers have accelerated the research and development and promotion of smart sensors, taking Bosch as an example, it plans to by 2027, 90% of its sensor products will be smart sensors, which shows that the world's largest MEMS king attaches great importance to MEMS smart sensors. In the report, Yole pointed out that Chinese companies lag behind the West by 2~3 generations in sensor technology, but in recent years, China has paid attention to and increased investment in the MEMS industry from a policy perspective, so that China's MEMS industry has ushered in a vigorous development trend.