Fiber Optic Connector Market Analysis By Product (SC Connector, LC Connector, FC Connector, ST Connector, MTP/MPO Connector), By Application, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2020 - 2025

Industry Insights

The global fiber optic connector market size was estimated at USD 3.22 billion in 2016 and is expected to gain traction over the forecast period. The global marketplace is majorly driven by the growing adoption of fiber optic technology. The increasing preference toward high bandwidth communication and emerging opportunities in the healthcare sector are anticipated to fuel the technology market, alongside the connectors market.

The industry is anticipated to pose promising growth prospects (over the forecast period), which are stemmed by the combination of numerous factors such as growing government funding for telecommunication infrastructure development and investments & research, embarked upon by leading players, for upgrading and enlarging the solicitation frontiers. In addition, the growing awareness of the benefits of technology is further driving the market growth.

The U.S. fiber optic connector market by product, 2014 - 2025, (USD Million)

Fabricators produce fiber optic connectors, in bulk, for long-distance cabling purposes. They are made of ultra-pure quartz. The global market is anticipated to witness substantial growth over the forecast period. The high demand from sensing applications and the communication segment for diverse purposes delivers dynamic opportunities for industry growth.

The market is witnessing considerable mergers and acquisitions, undertaken by the benefactors of the telecommunication and network service providers in their endeavors, to achieve enhanced service portfolios, by gaining access to numerous patents of the client application domain. The growing demand for power-efficient, cost-effective, and high-level network infrastructure integration in the IT sector is expected to fuel the market demand in the next few years.

Fiber Optic Connector Market Trends

Continuous advancements have led to the evolution of the fifth-generation fiber optics technology, which is based on the Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical solutions concept. Furthermore, fiber optic connectors have become the preferred transmission integrating medium, owing to their ability to provide reliable network connections, low back reflection, compacts size, and wide temperature range of epoxies, among others. The telecom industry has turned out to be one of the biggest beneficiary sectors across the globe, which is attributed to the technological aspects of fiber optic connectors. In addition, medical & healthcare is one of the prominent application sectors where the technology is extensively being adopted.

The fiber optic connector, which is an evolving industry, has experienced tremendous growth in the past decade. There is an increasing need for more intelligent network architectures, simplified network installations, and advanced switching techniques that can change dynamically and respond well to traffic patterns while simultaneously offering cost efficiency. Fiber optic connector market has witnessed a considerable growth across the globe and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR over the forecast period as well.

A substantial increase has been observed in the fiber optic cable and component market as it offers increased reliability, greater bandwidth, enhanced security, and many other factors. One of the leading factors driving the market is the growing demand for high bandwidth. Researchers are attempting to achieve even higher bandwidth with 100Gb/s. It is paramount for applications such as file downloading, video calling, online gaming, and others. Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) leads the path for multi-terabit transmission. There is a global need for increased bandwidth, which has resulted in the interest to develop multi-terabit optical networks and fiber connectors for efficient termination with fiber optic cables.

Fiber optic connectors help to join optical fibers for transmitting information efficiently without losses. They are implemented across a broad range of applications including security and defense, telecommunication, data centers, community antenna televisions, inter/intra building applications, and high density interconnection. The Asian telecom market has been witnessing growing adoption of 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) services for improved distribution of high-speed data, television, telephony, and video services.

Product Insights

Based on product types, the market has been segmented into SC, LC, FC, ST, MTP/MPO connectors, and others. The LC connector segment is anticipated to be the largest segment, in terms of revenue, and is anticipated to dominate the technology arena, in terms of size, by 2025. 

The military & aerospace and railway application segments are poised to witness significant growth rates, owing to the increasing adoption of Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) across these application segments. The military utilizes optical connector technology for a wide variety of ground, sea, air, and space solicitations, such as in avionics testing equipment modules and ground support systems in fighter planes.

The ST and FC connector segments are expected to witness considerable growth and dominate the market (in terms of growth rates) over the forecast period. However, factors, such as high initial investment, to develop and deploy new fabrication technologies, may pose a challenge to the market demand over the forecast period.

Mergers and acquisitions, to achieve advanced technology licenses, have evolved as a major part of the modern-day fiber optic industry (including the cable fabrication domain). For instance, in June 2016, Corning Incorporated (U.S.) initiated its acquisition of Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. (AFOP) (U.S.). It planned to incorporate AFOP into its ‘Optical Communications’ business segment. Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. designed and manufactured high-performance, passive optical components.

Application Insights

Based on applications, the market has been segmented into telecom, oil & gas, military & aerospace, BFSI, medical, railway, and other applications. The telecom application segment is anticipated to be the largest segment (in terms of revenue) and dominate the application arena, in terms of size, by 2025. The medical applications segment would witness swift progression in terms of CAGR in comparison to its other solicitation counterparts.

The medical and railway application segments are anticipated to witness significant growth rates, attributable to their growing adoption in dynamic healthcare treatment, lighting applications, deployment in railway line inspection, and load calculation applications. The technology has set forth copious new applications across the medical industry that are mainly used for the light conduction and illumination, flexible bundling, and laser delivery systems.

The growing penetration of telecommunication infrastructure in developing economies, such as China and India, is attributable to the significant growth of the technology in the region. Data transmission and communication services account for the major shares of the telecommunication application arena. Additionally, the increasing cloud-based applications, audio-video services, and Video-on-Demand (VoD) services are anticipated to stimulate the demand for growing installations.

Fiber optic market by application, 2016 (%)

The technology is undergoing continual R&D for developing low-cost technologies and application solicitations for the mass market. The technology has massive growth prospects and can be integrated into application areas such as the railway, healthcare, oil & gas, and aerospace & defense sectors.  

Regional Insights

The high penetration rate of the manufacturing sector and the expanding IT & telecommunication sector are strengthening the Asia Pacific regional market. The Asia Pacific region is expected to surface as a leading region (in terms of growth and market size) over the forecast period. The regional market growth can be attributed to the growing adoption of fiber optic technology in numerous industry verticals, specifically the telecommunications sector.

Governments of technologically-advanced countries, such as the UK, Germany, Japan, the U.S., China, and others, are in a bid to improve their network security infrastructure (on individual and country levels). Fiber optics serves as a medium to cope with the increasing bandwidth requirements associated with broadband services, network operators, and broadband connection providers.

The telecom sector requires fiber optic components in their dynamic forms such as distribution cables, trunk cable forms, high density interconnect cables, and standard patch cords. Stringent regulations and standards, being imposed by the government regulating authorities and medical associations across the globe, are further driving the optical technology market in the medical sector, eventually driving the global fiber optics connectors market to grow at a notable pace over the estimated time.

The APAC region has witnessed a rising demand due to increased broadband network infrastructures. Moreover, the demand for fiber optic components is driven by the growing demand for high-speed wired internet. Niche applications such as gaming, media, and video consume more data, due to which they require a considerably high-speed internet connection. Data centers are composed of storage and networked computers that organizations or other businesses use to store, disseminate, organize, and process large amounts of data.

Lucrative investments made by government in the Asia Pacific region for the enhancement of fiber optic networks and the growing adoption of mobile devices provide significant growth opportunities in the market. Increased penetration of fiber optic connectors has been witnessed in Japan, China, and South Korea. The adoption of fiber optic connectors has increased significantly in China and Japan owing to the requirements of connectivity improvement and widespread usage of 3G/4G services. The growing demand for high-speed data connection primarily drives the market in this region. The advantage of assured security of transmitted data has led to an increased adoption of fiber optic connectors among consumers.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

The key industry participants of the market are Corning, Inc., Optical Cable Corporation, Sterlite Technologies Limited, 3M, and OFS Fitel, LLC. The extensive acceptance of the internet has instigated increased adoption of fiber optic cables and systems in the telecommunication and data communication sector.

Fiber Optic Connector Market Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest trends and opportunities in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the fiber optic connector market based on product, application, and regions:

• Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • SC Connector

  • LC Connector

  • FC Connector

  • ST Connector

  • MTP/MPO connector

  • Others

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • Telecom

  • Oil & Gas

  • Military & Aerospace

  • BFSI

  • Medical

  • Railway

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • North America

    • The U.S.

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • Europe

    • Germany

    • The U.K.

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • Japan

    • India

  • South America

    • Brazil

  • MEA