According to Yole Developpement, the market size of gas and particle sensors will reach $2.2 billion by 2026, of which the gas sensor market will reach $1.8 billion in revenue, with a CAGR of 10% in 2020-26, while the particle sensor market will reach $1.8 billion in revenue It is expected to reach $400 million in 2020, with a CAGR of 16.3%.

The main reason for the rapid growth is that the consumer market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 39.4%. The HVAC market, which includes home air purifiers, is growing at a CAGR of 18%. The compound growth rate of the transportation market is 15.6%.
The main evolution direction of gas sensors is miniaturization and low power consumption, and the trend is towards more combinations (humidity, temperature, pressure with gas sensors) and electronic noses developed using digital smell.
The gas sensor market is dominated by 5 companies with revenue accounting for nearly 70% of the overall market. They are Bosch, Delphi, NGK-NTK, Denso and Honeywell.
In addition to these top 5, there are countless smaller companies in the industry.
There are 3 major leading companies in the particle sensor industry: Sharp remains the leader in terms of shipments, while Plantower leads with nearly $20 million in revenue.
The mature automotive powertrain, industrial and HVAC markets still dominate, accounting for about 80% of gas and particle sensor sales, but consumer applications appear poised to explode thanks to smart home and wearables.
Such products can monitor indoor and outdoor air quality, enabling consumers to act on the measured information. This is expected to be the market with the greatest momentum, with a CAGR of nearly 40%.
Automotive in-vehicle application scenarios are also an expanding market, mainly to improve comfort and safety. From selective gas detection to non-selective gas detection, the consumer and automotive markets are also benefiting from advanced digital olfactory technology, using electronic noses to simulate human or animal sense of smell to detect odors made up of VOCs.
Gases such as CO2, NOx or VOC are the main detection targets. The lack of selectivity of MOS technology and the bulky size of NDIR sensors have long hindered the market, but advanced technologies and new applications have facilitated higher adoption of these technologies.
Both technologies accounted for about a quarter of the market in 2020 and are expected to grow to 41% of global revenue by 2026, thanks to more selective and smaller-scale emerging applications and technological advancements.
MOS and NDIR are more competitive with traditional electrochemical detectors. In the field of particle sensors, the transition to optical detection via optical scattering has begun.
In particular, this means using a laser source instead of an LED, allowing better measurement of higher concentrations and smaller size particles.
Advanced technologies and emerging uses of gas and particle sensors are opening up for possible mergers and acquisitions, and will also bring new players to the field, as well as more solutions for gas and particle detection.