Forecast of the development prospects of the fiber laser source industry in 2022

Recently, Raycus Laser and Nanhua University jointly developed the first 100KW ultra-high-power industrial fiber laser source and launched a ceremony at Nanhua University. It is reported that this 100KW ultra-high-power laser source took more than six months to develop and mainly included the upgrade of a new generation of R-QS output optical cable, ultra-high-power combiner and intelligent control system. Many technical bottlenecks such as the high matching of output end caps and high-power laser output heads have been solved, which has greatly promoted the development of globle laser source industry.

Laser market size

In recent years,  laser source industry has developed rapidly and has obvious competitive advantages, and its share in the global laser market has continued to increase. Due to the continuous breakthrough of laser technology and the continuous expansion of its application fields, the size of laser source market has grown rapidly from US$6.95 billion in 2017 to US$10.91 billion in 2020, accounting for 66.12% of the global laser market. It is expected that the laser source market will have greater breakthroughs in the future, and its market size will reach 14.74 billion US dollars in 2022.

Laser market share structure

At present, the laser sources on the market mainly include fiber lasers, semiconductor lasers, solid-state lasers and gas lasers. Due to the excellent performance and applicability of fiber lasers, its market share has increased rapidly in the past ten years, occupying 51% of the market. Secondly, semiconductor lasers, solid-state lasers and gas lasers account for 17%, 16%, and 16% of the market respectively.

The competitive landscape of the laser industry

The fiber laser market in China is highly competitive. Due to the high level of laser technology requirements, the market concentration is relatively high. Among them, the IPG market accounted for the largest share, reaching 41.9%, followed by Raycus laser market accounting for 24.3%, and Max laser market accounting for 11.9%.

The development prospects of the laser source industry

Policies are good for the development of the laser source industry

At present, some major developed countries and economic entities have formulated national-level laser industry development plans, providing comprehensive support for photonics and lasers. High-end manufacturing is a weak link in China manufacturing industry, especially in the field of precision machining, which has a certain gap with the world's advanced level. In order to speed up the adjustment of the industrial structure and enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing industry, the state has issued a number of policies to increase support for precision manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and other fields from the national strategic level. Laser technology is the basic tool and effective means to support the upgrading of micro-nano manufacturing technology. It will benefit from the huge market demand brought by the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing industry and promote the development of laser source industry.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Basic Electronic Components Industry Development Action Plan" in January 2021, proposing to focus on the development of high-speed optical communication chips, high-speed high-precision optical detectors, high-speed direct modulation and external modulation lasers, high-speed modulator chips, and high-power Lasers, etc.

The expansion of downstream laser applications drives the development of fiber laser source industry

As one of the advanced technologies of modern manufacturing, laser processing technology has the advantages of high precision, high efficiency, low energy consumption and low cost that traditional processing methods do not have. It has the advantages of material, shape, size and processing environment of processing materials. The greater degree of freedom can better solve the technical problems of processing, forming and refining different materials. With the continuous development of laser technology and laser micromachining application technology, laser processing technology can replace traditional mechanical processing in more fields, and it is expected to drive the continuous development of the laser industry.

The development of supporting industries boosts the rapid development of the laser industry

Laser source devices are the key to the development of the laser industry. The development of lasers depends on the development level of laser devices such as pump sources, laser crystals, and high-end optical devices. China has strong scientific research strength in the fields of laser crystals and optical devices, and realized industrialization earlier, and the development is relatively mature. Complete and mature industrial supporting facilities are conducive to the rapid development of the laser industry. In addition, the laser application market is vast, the laser equipment manufacturing industry is mature, the application development technology is at the forefront of the world, and the relevant public service platform is relatively complete. The prosperity of the downstream application industry provides a market guarantee for the healthy development of the laser source industry.