MEMS Timing Market Sees Major New Player

Phoenix, Arizona September 4, 2012 - Earlier this month it was announced that Vectron International and Knowles Electronics have entered into a strategic partnership with SiTime Corporation. Vectron has been a decades-long leader in the timing market but does not have a MEMS product line. Knowles is a leader in MEMS microphones. Both Vectron and Knowles are part of Dover Corporation. SiTime is the long-time leader of the MEMS oscillator market.
In this partnership SiTime will deliver products to Vectron. These products will be rebranded by Vectron for sale to its existing customers. The partnership opens up future discussions on product development between the two companies, but neither one can talk about details at this time.

In 2011, the total timing market was $6.3 billion. MEMS oscillators accounted for less than 1% of this market. Vectron realizes that there are many advantages to MEMS oscillators. Since they are manufactured with semiconductor technology, MEMS oscillators are scalable, resulting in lower cost and smaller size compared to the traditional quartz based devices. Because MEMS oscillators are programmable, vendors can offer customers faster response and improved inventory management. According to SiTime, it is a matter of educating system designers on the advantages of MEMS.

Semico Research's Chief of Technology, Tony Massimini, believes that Knowles and Vectron have the name recognition and reputation which will add credibility to MEMS oscillators. SiTime has technical expertise in MEMS oscillators. "It will be interesting to see how this partnership progresses," said Semico's Tony Massimini.

Vectron recognizes there is strong potential growth for MEMS oscillators. A company can either take four years or more to develop a MEMS oscillator to bring it to market or it can partner with another company or enter the market via acquisition. In the last year several companies have entered this market.

Semico projects that the market for MEMS oscillators has a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2011 to 2016 of 85.6% on revenues and 87.2% on units. Cell phones and, in particular, smart phones will be the fastest growing market for MEMS oscillators.

Semico has released a report, The Time Has Come For MEMS Oscillators, examining the key end use markets for MEMS oscillators. The size and growth rates of end use markets and the MEMS penetration rates are presented. The unit and sales TAMs of oscillators are shown. The following questions are addressed: Who are the key players and technologies in MEMS oscillators? Who are some of the emerging players? What advantages do MEMS oscillators offer? What will drive adoption of MEMS timing solutions? What are the key end use markets? The report is 39 pages and includes 14 tables and 15 figures and is available for immediate distribution.

For more information, contact:

Rick Vogelei, Business Development Executive
Phone: (480) 435-8564
Email: rickv@semico.com

About Semico
We are a semiconductor marketing & consulting research company located in Phoenix, Arizona. Semico was founded in 1994 by a group of semiconductor industry experts. We have improved the validity of semiconductor product forecasts via technology roadmaps in end-use markets. Semico offers custom consulting, portfolio packages, individual market research studies and premier industry conferences.