As far as the consumer electronic market is concerned, MEMS is slowly heading in the right direction, according to In-Stat/MDR. The high tech market research firm reports that the technology is moving forwards in terms of device development, increasing unit shipments, and most importantly, price reduction - all of which will allow MEMS companies to capture market share in a growing number of applications. As a result, unit shipments of MEMS devices for consumer electronics products are forecast to increase from 5.2 million in 2001 to 189.4 million in 2006, at a compound annual growth rate of 105.2 percent.


In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

Those devices that will impact this sector the most will consist of accelerometers, gyros, microphones, optical MEMS and RF MEMS. Key applications include home theater, camcorders, digital TVs, cell phones and electronic toys.

Depending on whether the workability of certain MEMS devices that are currently in development can be proven, other applications with strong potential include MP3 players, digital cameras, portable DVD players, set top boxes and PDAs.

Revenues for MEMS devices for consumer electronics products will rise to $613.5 M in 2006 (at a CAGR of 21.5%), up from $124.3 M in 2001 - despite average selling prices that will decline fairly steeply throughout the forecast period.