CIS market tops $20bn; to reach $31.5bn in 2026

Update: August 6, 2023
CIS market tops $20bn; to reach $31.5bn in 2026

The CIS industry represents 4.7% of the $440 billion global Semiconductor industry, this share stayed unchanged from 2019.

Mobile remains the most important application for CIS, representing 68% of market revenues.

Security and automotive applications have emerged with growth in the range of 40% YoY.

The next technology challenge should be the integration of AI within CIS sensors.

Sony remains the biggest CIS player, with a market share of 40%. This is compared to Samsung’s 22%, Omnivision’s 11%, and STMicroelectronics’ 6%. These top players are all focusing on mobile applications either in imaging or sensing applications.

“Until 2019 mobile device cameras were the main growth contributor to the CIS market,” says Yole’s Pierre Cambou, “but, in 2020 this is no longer the case. Computing, automotive and security market applications have now outpaced the growth of mobile device.”

The $20.7 billion CIS industry is still heavily dominated by mobile and consumer applications, representing more than 72% of revenues. Yet, despite all headwinds in 2020, computing, automotive and security have each grown to similar shares, reaching about 8% of CIS revenues, and 23% combined. They had represented 21% in 2019.

In computing, higher demand for laptops and tablets in the COVID-19 context combined with the introduction of sensing cameras, such as 3D and fingerprint, has reversed a multi-year downward trend. In automotive and security, the high demand for cameras comes from smart car, smart home, and smart building trends.

The CIS industry should at least keep growing at 7.2% CAGR for the five years ahead.

“The CIS industry output stayed close to its structural limit all through the year, and especially in Q3-2020,” says Cambou, “for the full year, the whole industry grew by 7.3% YoY in revenue. Sony didn’t grow, but Samsung grew 13%, OmniVision, Smartsens and SK Hynix grew about 30%, while Galaxycore grew 52% YoY”.