The global trend toward smart technology continues to fuel the sensors market, which is expected to reach $241 Billion USD by 2022. Increasingly autonomous vehicles, the expansion of the IoT, strong demand in the automation industry, and the increasing use of sensors in mobile devices are key industry drivers in the sensor space.

While MEMS sensors still account for a significant portion of sensor market revenue, MEMS is mature technology. While we do not see a lot of innovation in this sector these days, we do still see a lot of MEMS, and we do closely monitor for the occasional new development.

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) is the fastest-growing segment of the sensors market, and no wonder; this is the segment of innovation, and the segment currently feeding the global appetite for more perceptive electronics.

From an intellectual property standpoint, we have seen an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions in the sensors market, as established players seek to expand their product bases and areas of influence. This is perhaps most pronounced in the automotive market - for example in the LIDAR space – where traditional auto OEMs are partnering with technology firms to respond to the new demands for automation and integrated systems.

From a technology standpoint, we continue to see mostly incremental changes in existing sensor products, and more significant innovations in how they are being combined. One of the more recent innovations in the image sensor space, for example, is the emergence of the 3D stacked image sensor – Sony announced the industry’s first 3-layer stacked CMOS IS with DRAM for smartphones in 2017.