Non-Telecom Diode Laser Market to Reach $2.2 Billion By 2004
The total worldwide market for non-telecom diode lasers is forecast to grow from $966 million in 1999 to $2,228 million in 2004, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2%, according to a recently released report from market research firm Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA). The summary forecast is shown for all market sectors in the figure below.
The report breaks the market for non-telecom diode lasers into 25 application categories across seven market sectors: Consumer, Computers and Office Equipment, Industrial, Medical, Automotive, Military/Aerospace and DPSSL Pumps. Product categories include low, medium and high power in both the visible (400-700 nm) and near-infrared (700-1000 nm) wavelength ranges.
Optical storage, pump lasers dominate applications
Growth rates will vary widely across the seven market sectors. Although their growth rates (in the 15-20% range) will not be as high as some of the other sectors, the consumer and computer sectors will continue to dominate the laser diode market. the consumer sector (e.g. CD audio, CD-ROM-based video games, laser pointers) is the most mature, while the Computer sector's growth will leverage off the continued growth in personal computers and the peripherals that support them, primarily related to optical storage (e.g. DVD-ROM). DPSSL pumps, with a forecast cagr of 32.0% will be the third largest sector BY 2004. Growth in this sector is driven primarily by the continuing penetration of diode-pumped solid-state lasers into the conventional lamp-pumped laser market. Particularly important to the forecast is the emergence of kilowatt-class DPSSLs for industrial applications. The sector forecast to have the most dramatic growth is the Automotive sector, at a CAGR of 50.1%; however, it is also the smallest sector.
The Industrial, and Medical sectors are both forecast to have CAGRs of approximately 21%. Growth in the Industrial sector will be driven by several emerging applications, such as computer-to-press technology, that are expected to have a major impact over the next five years. In the Medical sector, laser diodes are still an emerging therapeutic technology, but rapid growth is expected in some newly developed procedures such as hair removal.
Hot products
The product type with the highest forecast market growth rate is the low-power visible laser diode, which is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 37.1% over the next five years. This growth will be driven in large part by the continuing growth of DVD players and DVD-ROM/RAM drives over the next several years, as well as by the emergence of high-density DVD technologies enabled by the availability of blue laser diodes.
Another product type with forecast high growth rates is high-power infrared at 29.0%. One of the main drivers for growth of this product type is the growth in the DPSSL pumping application, as discussed above. Low-power infrared diode lasers, which are the largest product area in 1999, will peak and decline over the forecast period, due to the displacement of CD-ROM drives in personal computers by DVD-ROM drives. Medium-power infrared laser diodes are forecast to grow at a healthy 19.3%, a large fraction of which will be used in the printing industry in computer-to-plate applications. The market for medium-power visible laser diodes, which are used in a variety of applications, will remain small throughout the forecast period due to the lack of any large-scale drivers.
For further information on the report Laser Diode Market Review and Forecast – 2000 (Short Wavelength, Non-Communications), please contact Strategies Unlimited at telephone (650) 941-3438.