In the previous issue of "Heavy! China's Laser Industry: Laser Industry Policy", we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the development environment of China's laser industry. With the continuous improvement of the policy environment, China's laser industry has entered a stage of continuous technological breakthroughs and rapid market growth. In this article, we will delve into the application fields and development prospects of lasers worldwide from an application perspective.

1. The global laser industry market size is close to 20 billion US dollars

Since it was proposed and officially launched by the world, laser has gone through a history of more than 100 years. In 1917, Einstein predicted that "there is stimulated radiation". In 1960, American Mayman invented the world's first ruby laser, which was the first laser in human history. In 1961, Professor Wang Zhijiang, the "father of Chinese lasers", successfully developed China's first ruby laser.

Later, with the passage of time, laser technology continued to mature, and the characteristics of lasers began to deeply integrate with electronics, computers, and optical materials, opening up a broad market for the application of lasers in high-tech fields. Laser technology has also become one of the main components of high-tech. The application fields of lasers have gradually expanded from the initial material processing, scientific research and military fields to more segmented markets such as communication, storage, medical beauty, instrumentation, sensors, etc., forming six major segmented markets including material processing and lithography, communication and optical storage, scientific research and military, medical and beauty, instrumentation and sensors, entertainment, display and printing.

The continuous expansion of the application market provides a constant source of power for the growing size of the global laser industry market.

According to data released by the globally authoritative laser analysis firm Strategies Unlimited, the global laser industry market size was approximately $11.56 billion in 2016. From a growth trend perspective, the growth rate of the laser industry market size showed a downward trend from 2016 to 2019, with the growth rate decreasing from 20% per month in 2017 to less than 2% in 2019. In 2020, there was some improvement, with the growth rate increasing to around 10%. So far, the global COVID-19 has not ended, but the development of COVID-19 vaccine has made a great breakthrough. The global vaccination population continues to expand, and the epidemic is expected to be comprehensively controlled. The laser industry will face a big rebound after the epidemic. It is expected that the market size will exceed 19 billion dollars in 2021.

                                                                                                                                                                            图1 2016-2021年全球激光产业市场规模增长情况

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

2. Material processing and photolithography remain the largest application markets for lasers

At present, the largest application market for lasers is still the materials processing and lithography market. According to Strategies Unlimited statistics, there are four main categories of lasers in the materials processing and lithography market: first, lasers used for welding, cutting, annealing, drilling and other types of metal processing; second, lasers used for semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing (including lithography, engraving, defect repair, drilling, etc.); third, lasers used for all material standards; fourth, lasers used for cutting and welding organic compounds, rapid prototyping, microfabrication, grating manufacturing and other material processing. The scale of laser applications in the material processing and lithography market has also increased from less than 5 billion US dollars in 2016 to about 6.7 billion US dollars in 2020, but its proportion in the laser industry market has declined, from 42.8% in 2016 to 40.1% in 2020.

                                                                                                                                                                      Figure 2 Growth of Global Materials Processing and Lithography Application Market Scale from 2016 to 2021

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

3. The market share of communication and optical storage has significantly declined

The application of lasers in the communication and optical storage market mainly includes all laser diodes used in telecommunications, data communication, and optical storage applications, including pump sources for optical amplifiers. The laser applications in the communication market have significant periodicity. In the future, with the widespread deployment of 5G throughout the country, China will provide fertile soil for the large-scale application of lasers in the communication field, which will greatly drive the growth of the global laser market.

According to statistics from Strategies Unlimited, the growth of the communication and optical storage market has been relatively slow since 2016, with a growth rate of only around $700 million from 2016 to 2020.

The proportion in the entire laser industry market has also shown a continuous downward trend, from 33.3% in 2016 to 27.3% in 2020.

                                                                                                                                                                      Figure 3 Growth of Global Communication and Optical Storage Application Market Size from 2016 to 2021

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

4. There is great potential in the scientific research and military market

Laser is mainly used in basic research and development in scientific research and military markets, such as universities and national laboratories, as well as lasers for emerging and existing military applications, such as rangefinders, lighting fixtures, infrared countermeasures, and directed energy weapon research. The trend of globalization is the mainstream trend of global economic and trade development, but unstable factors such as unilateralism and trade wars will also exist for a long time. The military security needs of various countries will continue to grow, especially high-tech military products with lasers as the core, which will maintain high-speed growth.

According to statistics from Strategies Unlimited, the application scale of lasers in scientific research and military markets has maintained rapid growth since 2016, with an average annual compound growth rate of 25.3%. Its market share in the laser industry has also increased from less than 8% in 2016 to 13.3% in 2020.

                                                                                                                                                                        Figure 4 Growth of Global Research and Military Application Market Size from 2016 to 2021

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

5. The medical and beauty markets will maintain stable growth

The main applications of lasers in the medical and cosmetic fields are in ophthalmology (including refractive surgery and photocoagulation), surgery, dentistry, treatment, dermatology, hair removal, and other cosmetic applications. According to Strategies Unlimited, the market size of medical and cosmetic lasers has maintained a growth rate of around 8% since 2016, and its proportion in the laser industry market size has also remained at around 8%.

                                                                                                                                                                        Figure 5 Growth of Global Medical and Beauty Application Market Scale from 2016 to 2021

 

                                                                                                                                                                              Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

6. The market for instruments and sensors has broad growth prospects

The application of lasers in the instrumentation and sensor market mainly includes biomedical instruments, analytical instruments (such as spectrometers), wafer and mask inspection tools, metrology tools, level gauges, optical mice, gesture recognition, laser radar, barcode readers, and other sensors.

In terms of market size, the instrument and sensor market accounted for only 5% of the laser industry market in 2016. However, with the rapid growth of scientific sensing applications, LiDAR, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, etc., the market size of instrument and sensor has achieved rapid growth. It is expected that the market size of this field will reach about 1.7 billion US dollars in 2021, and its proportion in the laser industry market will also increase to 8.7%.

                                                                                                                                                                             Figure 6 Growth of Global Instrumentation and Sensor Application Market Size from 2016 to 2021

                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                  Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center

7. The market share of entertainment, display, and printing is less than 4%

At present, the entertainment, display, and printing markets have the smallest proportion in laser industry applications, with only about 3.6% in 2020. Lasers in this field are mainly used for lighting performances, games, digital cinemas, commercial pre press systems, traditional laser printers, and other applications. With the continuous increase in the number of laser digital cinemas worldwide, there is still potential for further growth in the market size of this field in the future.

                                                                                                                                                                      Figure 7 Growth of Global Entertainment, Display, and Printing Application Market Size from 2016 to 2021

                                                                                                                                                                                     Source: Strategies Unlimited OFweek Industry Research Center