Silicon (micro-electrical-mechanical system) MEMs microphone installations doubled between 2005 and 2006 to reach 20% of mobile phones manufactured, according to research firm The Information Network (TIN).

The silicon microphone market is geared to grow from 100 million units, which represented 6.1% of the 1.6 billion microphones sold worldwide in 2005 to more than 500 billion units in 2008, a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 90%.

Nearly 90% of shipments in 2006 were for cell phones with the remaining nearly 10% in consumer applications such as digital cameras, MP3 players, and PDAs. In 2008 a small percentage of silicon microphones will be going into headsets and hearing aids, according to TIN.

Knowles Acoustics (USA) has emerged as the number one worldwide provider of MEMS acoustic components with more than a 95% share, followed by SonionMicrotronic (Denmark), noted TIN.

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