Long production cycles and demand from markets such as consumer, automotive, security, and industrial led to challenges in CIS procurement at the end of 2020.
Q1 2021 was good due to some production overflow identified from Q4 2020, leading to a 7% better quarter compared to Q1 2020.
Sony, of course, remains the market leader, and though they did lose some market share in Q4-2020, they regained traction in Q1-2021.
However, they are being challenged by increased competition. In comparison, their nearest competitor Samsung was more protected from this market shake-up due to its vertical integration.
Their recently released line of 0.7µm pixel sensors targeting the mobile market helped them seize some of the new opportunities, with some OEM s, such as Xiaomi, benefiting from Huawei’s disappearance.
The long-term view is that the CIS market could gradually come to match the growth rate of the Semiconductor market in general.
A strong bounce for the CIS market is expected in 2022 with a 9% y-o-t growth, with an uptick in the automotive, security, and industrial camera markets, while smartphone sales are expected to remain stable though with an increase in the average number of cameras in each.