Samsung Electro-Mechanics Expands Camera Module Clients Amid Lee Jae-yong's Focus on Semiconductor Business

Battlefield Camera Module Market to Double in 5 Years
Samsung Electro-Mechanics "Diversifying Clients, Significant Sales Growth This Year"

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visiting the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Busan plant on July 16, 2020, inspecting automotive multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) products. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

"With the recent advancement of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving technologies, the number of camera modules installed per vehicle is expected to continuously increase. This year, (Samsung Electro-Mechanics') automotive camera module sales are projected to grow significantly compared to the previous year due to expanded market share among major clients."

Byung-ki Ahn, Executive Director and Head of the Package Development Team at Samsung Electro-Mechanics, stated this on the 3rd during the 3rd Camera Module Seminar. Recently, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jaeyong Lee visited Harman, an automotive electronics company acquired for about 9 trillion won six years ago, during a business trip to Europe, signaling the group's accelerating focus on the automotive electronics sector. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is also concentrating its capabilities in this area. As growth in the smartphone market slows, the company is accelerating technology advancement and expanding its client base to find new growth opportunities.

According to Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the reliability testing period for automotive camera modules lasts between two to three months, which is much longer than the one to two weeks required for IT camera modules. This is because the cameras must operate 'continuously' while the vehicle is moving, not just when taking photos or videos, even under harsh environmental conditions. To prevent deformation caused by external factors, 'glass lenses' are still used, and although the resolution is lower than that of IT camera modules, it is gradually improving.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics forecasts the automotive camera module market size to grow from $4.3 billion (approximately 5.6 trillion won) this year to $8.9 billion (approximately 11.55 trillion won) by 2027, with an average annual growth rate of about 15.7%. This is due to the advancement of ADAS technologies required for autonomous driving. As ADAS technology levels increase, it is expected that up to 15 to 20 different cameras will be installed on vehicles. These include rear, front detection, side mirror replacement cameras, as well as driver monitoring cameras inside the vehicle. Since Europe has already legalized the use of automotive cameras through regulations, Samsung Electro-Mechanics anticipates this trend will accelerate globally.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is focusing on high resolution and large sensor size, small quantity and lightweight design, improved variable aperture functions, foreign substance removal, and multi-camera integration. Increasing camera module pixels and sensor area enhances object detection capabilities. To eliminate the so-called 'camera bump,' miniaturization is necessary. The recent trend in the automotive camera market is toward compactness and lightness, reducing volume by more than 50%. To address difficulties in object recognition when moving from dark to bright environments or vice versa, variable aperture performance is being improved. Technologies for removing contaminants to prevent screen distortion and integrating heaters with cameras for winter use are also being advanced. Multiple cameras with different fields of view are combined to enhance object recognition capabilities.

Executive Director Ahn said, "In line with the market and technology trends of continuously increasing camera modules per vehicle, we are expanding differentiated product development and supply tailored to global major customers through horizontal deployment of IT camera module technologies, and actively pursuing diversification of clients. We expect automotive camera module sales to grow significantly compared to last year and anticipate this sales growth trend to continue."

Meanwhile, the IT camera market used in smartphones and other devices is considered to have entered a mature phase with an average annual growth rate of 1.2%. Accordingly, the focus will shift to advancing camera module technologies suitable for videos popular on social media. Executive Director Ahn stated, "Since the smartphone camera market is viewed as a mature market with an average growth rate of 1.2%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is overcoming market conditions by aligning with new component technologies and high-functionality demands. We are preparing differentiated products without delay to coincide with the new product launches of major clients scheduled for the third quarter and will strive to expand sales."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.