The fallout from the Covid-19 virus crisis in 2020 is expected to lower CMOS image sensor sales for the first time in 10 years, but new record-high revenues are seen next year, says new O-S-D Report.
Driven by camera phones and the rapid spread of new embedded applications, CMOS image sensors were the fastest growing semiconductor product category in the last decade with sales quadrupling between 2010 and 2019 to reach $18.4 billion last year. CMOS image sensors set nine consecutive record-high sales levels in the last nine years, but that streak is expected to end in 2020 with revenues falling 4% and unit growth being nearly flat as a result of the economic fallout from the Covid-19 virus crisis and a global recession.
CMOS image sensor sales are forecast to drop to $17.8 billion in 2020 after surging 30% in 2019, according to IC Insights’ new 2020 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes. The 350-page report shows CMOS image sensor sales rebounding 15% in 2021 to reach a new all-time high of $20.4 billion. The report’s forecast assumes containment of the coronavirus occurs by mid-year and market demand gradually recovering during the second half of 2020.
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