Global sales of an image sensor used in smartphones and digital cameras are expected to hit a record high this year, emerging as a bright spot in the stagnant chip sector, a report showed Thursday.

The market for complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensors is forecast to reach $16.8 billion in 2019, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to market researcher IC Insights.

The latest growth rate is sharply up from its August prediction of a 9 percent rise for this year.

The explosive growth in the image sensor market is a boon for Korean chipmakers, who have been expanding investment in the logic chips to reduce high reliance on memory chips and capitalize on the promising sector.

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., the worlds' top two memory chipmakers, have announced plans to expand their CMOS sensor production capacity in efforts to catch up with market leader Sony of Japan.

According to IHS Markit, Sony took 51.1 percent of the global CMOS market in the first quarter, followed by Samsung with 17.8 percent. SK hynix held a 2.7 percent market share to take fifth place. (Yonhap)