The Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ car camera module will be supplied to Tesla, a US electric car company. Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been developing this project in conjunction with Samsung Semiconductor for two years.
According to industry sources on the 15th, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been mass-producing camera modules to be supplied to Tesla at its Tianjin plant in China since the end of last year. Earlier, Samsung Electronics completed the contract to supply CMOS image sensor (CIS) to Tesla last year. The camera module produced by Samsung Electro-Mechanics will be equipped with Samsung Electronics CIS. OptronTec manufactures the lens modules for the camera modules.
"Tesla is a symbol of electric cars and cars of the future," an industry official said and added, "In the era of autonomous vehicles, we can appreciate the fact that Samsung Electro-Mechanics is supplying parts to Tesla because cameras are not just looking at the front and rear, but also performing 3D sensing." Tesla cars already have 8 to 12 cameras per vehicle to carry out semi-autonomous driving.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been supplying camera modules to carmakers since 2012, and this time it has expanded its clientele to Tesla. Tesla's electric vehicle production is about 100,000 units a year, so it is difficult to expect huge sales growth. But the innovative image about Samsung Electro-Mechanics can be planted in other customers. The Tesla supply case will help other third-party sales activities.
Last year, the System LSI division of Samsung Electronics Device Solution (DS) division signed a supply agreement with Tesla for CIS. It is the first time Samsung Electronics has supplied CIS to carmakers. Samsung Electronics, the world's second-largest CIS maker, has also created a sensor business team to oversee the CIS business within the System LSI division to catch up with Sony, the market leader.
According to market researcher Techno System Research (TSR), the market for automotive CIS sensors is estimated at $ 1.120 billion (about 1.24 trillion won) as of last year. In the entire CIS market, the sales of automotive products account for 8%. This figure is expected to exceed 10% in 2021. The automotive CIS market is dominated by ON Semiconductors, which grew its size by acquiring Aptina, and OmniVision, which was bought by the Chinese capital.
The first and second largest companies in the CIS market, Sony and Samsung Electronics, have grown mainly in the mobile market and are currently targeting the automotive market. Sony has begun supplying CIS to Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan since last year.