TAIPEI, Taiwan － According to Photonics Technology & Industry Devlopment Association (PIDA) statistics, in 2014 the total global CMOS sensor shipments amounted to 4.65 billion units. Chinese manufacturer Galaxycore was the top company, accounting for 21% of the shipments; whereas Japan’s Sony and the United States’ Omnivision made the second highest number of shipments at 19%. Meanwhile, low pixel VGA products showed the most rapid growth during the past few years.
In the high-end smart phone market, the three largest CMOS sensor manufacturers were Japan’s Sony, South Korea’s Samsung, and the United States’ OmniVision.
PIDA pointed out that Sony’s position as the world leader in image sensing has gradually stabilized, and they have also taken over the original Toshiba automobile and camera clients. On the other hand, Chinese cell phone manufacturers are winning over CMOS sensors that were manufactured by Sony, which has resulted in Sony’s proposed early expansion of investment.
However, the major American image sensor company, Omnivision in August 2015 accepted acquisition by the China Investment Group, and this will increase China’s production capacity for sensors.
PIDA stated that image sensor applications are already omnipresent and include notebook computers, security, digital cameras, and cell phones, and the total market scope is approaching 5 billion units. In addition, with the constantly increasing availability of Internet of Vehicles, driverless cars, and reverse image, the image sensor market is bound to continue to expand.
(TR/ Phil Sweeney)
