Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is expected to increase its capacity for image sensor production this year by between 20% and 30% and is considering converting an existing DRAM line to CIS production. Samsung’s ISOCELL image sensor line currently has a top end sensor with 108m pixels and 12 bit color depth, giving it an effective 12,000 x 9,000 resolution (company info.) and has been used in a number of high-end smartphones, primarily those by Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi (1810.HK), and Motorola (MSI), with models from RealMe (pvt) and Nokia (NOK) expected soon, with a multitude of smaller sensors sizes.
At rough 5% of semiconductor sales, image sensors are a big business, and sales from the CIS segment from smartphones are between 65% and 70% of the total market. To simplify further, Sony (SNE), the leader, and Samsung (#2) make up almost 85% of the smartphone image sensor market, depending on whose numbers you are looking at, but leave us to say, they are both quite significant from a product standpoint. While Sony has been building out capacity, with a new plant in Japan that is expected to begin production in April of this year, Samsung is not far behind and has the advantage of being its own supplier in many of its products, but the battle, especially at the high-end, will continue, with both expected to continue increasing capacity through 2025.
In the case of Samsung, a number of local companies have begun expanding their capabilities in anticipation of Samsung’s increasing CIS capacity. Tesna (131970.KS), LB Semicon (016970.KS), and Nepes Ark (330860.KS), all Korean chip testing companies that have dealt with Samsung in the past have added or are adding test capacity, and Korean CIS design firm Plus Chip (pvt), acquired by Alpha Holdings (117670.KS) last September has added 35 addition designers to meet the expected demand from Samsung.
While the CIS business is sensitive to the ups and downs of the smartphone market, demand over the next few years will remain strong and Samsung seems to a clear plan to try to replace Sony at the top of the heap with higher resolution and innovative sensors that are price competitive against Sony’s sensor product, which tends to be a bit more expensive than the average. While Sony has a broad customer base, Samsung has a very close eye on the smartphone space, given that they are likely to be the largest smartphone vendor this year, and has been using that knowledge to gain a foothold in a market that Sony owned entirely just a few years ago.
At rough 5% of semiconductor sales, image sensors are a big business, and sales from the CIS segment from smartphones are between 65% and 70% of the total market. To simplify further, Sony (SNE), the leader, and Samsung (#2) make up almost 85% of the smartphone image sensor market, depending on whose numbers you are looking at, but leave us to say, they are both quite significant from a product standpoint. While Sony has been building out capacity, with a new plant in Japan that is expected to begin production in April of this year, Samsung is not far behind and has the advantage of being its own supplier in many of its products, but the battle, especially at the high-end, will continue, with both expected to continue increasing capacity through 2025.
In the case of Samsung, a number of local companies have begun expanding their capabilities in anticipation of Samsung’s increasing CIS capacity. Tesna (131970.KS), LB Semicon (016970.KS), and Nepes Ark (330860.KS), all Korean chip testing companies that have dealt with Samsung in the past have added or are adding test capacity, and Korean CIS design firm Plus Chip (pvt), acquired by Alpha Holdings (117670.KS) last September has added 35 addition designers to meet the expected demand from Samsung.
While the CIS business is sensitive to the ups and downs of the smartphone market, demand over the next few years will remain strong and Samsung seems to a clear plan to try to replace Sony at the top of the heap with higher resolution and innovative sensors that are price competitive against Sony’s sensor product, which tends to be a bit more expensive than the average. While Sony has a broad customer base, Samsung has a very close eye on the smartphone space, given that they are likely to be the largest smartphone vendor this year, and has been using that knowledge to gain a foothold in a market that Sony owned entirely just a few years ago.
RSS Feed