Increasing Brain Power: Sensor Fusion Attracts More Players

The market for sensor fusion has been growing rapidly and has seen major changes and shifts in the ecosystem.  The market opportunities have attracted more chip vendors.  In the span of one year, the number of companies offering a sensor hub controller has grown from 16 to 33 companies. The sensor hub vendors are not only targeting smartphones and tablets, but are also focusing on wearables and the broad range of Internet of Things (IoT) applications.  The new Semico Research report "Increasing Brain Power:  Sensor Fusion Attracts More Players" projects that sensor hub shipments will reach 6.9 billion units by 2020.

“The prices for Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and sensors have been falling at a steep rate,” says Tony Massimini, Semico Research’s Chief of Technology. "This enables more MEMS to be designed into products. The increasing amount of sensor data requires more complex sensor fusion algorithms and more powerful sensor hub controllers.  New sensor hubs are being introduced optimized for low power applications." 

To counter that commoditization trend, some MEMS vendors have taken steps to add value to their silicon to differentiate.  In the last year, there have been several key acquisitions. “In addition to adding value to silicon,” says Massimini, “sensor fusion has spurred other developments. MEMS vendors have been offering modules which combine sensor hubs and MEMS.”

Key findings of the report include:

• Shipments of sensor hubs reached 1.1 billion units in 2014.
• Smartphones account for 61% of sensor hub shipments in 2014.   
• From 2014 to 2020, Semico projects a CAGR of 36.0% for sensor hub units. 
• Mobile Health & Fitness is the highest growth market, at a CAGR of 103.1%.

In its recent report “Increasing Brain Power:  Sensor Fusion Attracts More Players” (MP110-15), Semico Research presents the sensor hub market and forecasts by the device type and by key end use markets.  Readers will see which sensor hub solution is growing fastest and in which market segments.  The report also discusses the latest trends in Sensor Fusion, the growing ecosystem, technical innovations, and collaboration among companies and organizations involved with sensor hubs and MEMS and sensors.  Included are profiles of sensor hub vendors. The report is 84 pages long and includes 18 tables and 27 figures.