Opto market close to US$25 billion in five years

Oxford, UK, April 2005

According to the newly published third edition of the 'Strategic Study of the Worldwide Semiconductor Optoelectronic Component Industry to 2008' the worldwide market for semiconductor optoelectronic components was estimated to be US$9 billion in 2003 and is forecast to grow by an annual average growth rate of 20% to over US$22.3 billion by 2008. While the total market for materials used in the manufacture of semiconductor optoelectronic components was estimated to be US$0.85 billion in 2003 and is forecast to see an annual average growth rate of 16.3% to US$1.8 billion by 2008.

During 2004 the market witnessed further strong growth and although some sectors experienced a slowdown in the final months of the year, which is expected to continue through into the first half of 2005, the industry through to 2008 and beyond is forecast to show strong and sustained growth. The total worldwide semiconductor optoelectronics materials and devices market will be close to US$25 billion value within five years.

Other findings from the report include:

- Even though fibre is recovering, opto is going to continue to be dominated by applications other than communications with data storage and lighting the key drivers.

- The market for LEDs of all types will continue to see some of the best growth in the opto market. The annual growth rate will be 23% from a 2003 market of US$3.5 billion to US$9.9 billion by 2008.

- The launch of new devices, such as the violet laser, will provide significant market opportunities. More importantly it will provide openings in new applications. Combining devices will enable multi-wavelength response and hence multi-function instruments to aid diagnostics and chemical analysis, for example.

- Computers and related applications are amongst the most important segments of the semiconductor optoelectronic components market, making up 21% in 2003. Volumes of devices shipped will continue to increase but with the price pressure the overall trend will be to limit the value of the market.

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