Microspeakers, Next Commercial Frontier for MEMS Technology

MEMS microspeakers indicate the future trend

MEMS technology is once again a hot topic in the microspeaker industry, with inroads made in the TWS earbuds and hearables markets over the past few years and likely in smartphones in the future.

The growing interest in MEMS microspeakers is apparent in the acquisition of Arioso Microsystems by Bosch Sensortec, announced in April 2022. Yole Intelligence said that “this is an important development for the company itself and the MEMS industry in general.”

USound, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of MEMS loudspeakers for hearables and wearables, is projecting that the technology will replace balanced armature microspeakers in most portable consumer electronics devices by 2025. The company has recently set up a factory in the Zibo High Tech Zone in Shandong province. The facility is scheduled to have started mass production of MEMS microspeakers in late 2022 and is planned to generate an annual production value of $869 million.

China, one of the largest production centers for microspeakers, has only a few suppliers of MEMS microspeakers due to the high-level technology involved. It is likely that larger companies, with resources to work with foundries, will venture into this advanced category in the coming years.

Global microspeaker market

Globally, the microspeaker segment has been steadily growing, driven by high demand in the smartphone, earphone, tablet, laptop and automotive markets. It will reach $10.9 billion in 2024 from $9.4 billion in 2019, with a CAGR of 3.01 percent, according to Yole Développement. Market expansion will also be fueled by the wearables market, which will see a 12.4 percent CAGR in shipments during the same period.

China is one of the biggest sources of entry-level and midrange microspeakers and will continue to enjoy 5 to 10 percent sales growth in the next two years. This positive outlook is spurring many Chinese companies to increase their production in 2023. One such project is Zhejiang Haosheng Electronic’s $100-million factory. When fully operational in early 2023, the facility will be able to turn out 100 million microspeakers and 150 million receivers annually, with total production value of $214 million.

There are about 500 microspeaker manufacturers in China, majority of which are small and midsize domestically owned enterprises. Foreign companies with production facilities there include Knowles and Hosiden. Their homegrown counterparts are Goertek, AAC, Bestar and New Jialian. All make other acoustic components such as microphones, buzzers and receivers.

Over two-thirds of these suppliers are based in Zhejiang and Guangdong, mainly in Ningbo, Jiaxing, Shenzhen and Dongguan. The rest are in Jiangsu and Fujian.