Silicon Photonics Market Analysis By Component, By Product, By Application (IT & Telecommunication, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare and Life Science, Commercial, and Defense and Security), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025

Industry Insights

The global silicon photonics market size was valued at USD 123.0 million in 2015 and is expected to spectate a significant growth as photonics products would rapidly gain traction. The projected growth of photonics products is attributed to their ability to be incorporated in dynamic application areas, such as consumer electronics, IT and telecommunication, and commercial. The increasing demand for active optical cables, optical multiplexers, and optical attenuators provides numerous growth opportunities as they offer considerable options to attain low-cost economies.

Silicon photonics has been a significant research arena since the last decade on account of potential benefits of the optoelectronics integration. The key value chain components in the system include raw material suppliers, component manufacturers (chip and optical interconnect fabrication firms), Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), server system distributors, and end-use segments.

U.S. silicon photonics by product, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million)

The distributor stage includes resellers, direct sales partners, channel partners, and other hardware vendors that are involved with the sales and distribution of photonic IC systems globally. For instance, Ibsen Photonics A/S (Denmark) offers photonic IC solutions to customers through distributors spread across China, India, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Israel, among others, which helps the company to meet the customers’ evolving needs.

Modern day optical component vendors have witnessed a colossal price reduction in their respective markets. With higher fabrication costs and low selling prices, the manufacturers have incurred significant losses in the endeavors of telecom companies to compete amongst each other.

Component Insights

The market segmentation, based on the types of components, includes lasers, optical waveguides, optical modulators, photodetectors, and Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) filters. The WDM filters segment would be the largest segment and is anticipated to dominate the component arena in terms of size by 2025. WDM filters enable the usage of current electronics and current fibers; however, they share fibers by transmitting different channels at different wavelengths of light.

The extensive acceptance of the Internet, where WDM filter plays a major role, instigates increased growth in the telecommunication and data communication segments.

Product Insights

The market segmentation, based on the types of products, includes lasers, optical waveguides, optical modulators, photodetectors, and Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) filters. The Active Optical Cables (AOC) segment was the largest segment in terms of size in 2015. AOC is capable of transferring high data rates over a long distance through silicon photonic products.

Active optical cables have significant cost advantages compared to the traditional optical modules and provide streamlined installation for high-performance computing and storage applications. The optical multiplexers segment would be the fastest growing in terms of CAGR from 2016 to 2025.

Application Insights

The market segmentation, based on applications, includes IT & telecommunication, consumer electronics, healthcare & life science, commercial, defense, and security. The IT & telecommunication segment would be the largest segment and would dominate the applications arena in terms of size in 2015.

Silicon photonics market by application, 2015

The growing demand for smartphone products penetrates the global telecommunication sector, which is expected to lead to a high growth over the forecast period. New technologies in silicon photonics drive the IT and telecommunication industry and maximize the performance of existing fixed and mobile infrastructures. The commercial application segment would be the fastest growing in terms of CAGR from 2016 to 2025.

Regional Insights

The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2025. A strong growth in the data centers, long haul & transport networks, and consumer electronics manufacturers, among these regions, has led to the large-scale adoption in the Asia Pacific region.

The North American regional market would dominate the industry in terms of revenue in 2015. This growth is attributable to the increasing adoption of silicon photonic products due to their superior features, such as low power consumption, high efficiency, and small size. The integrated silicon photonic manufacturing institutes focus their research on photonic ICs to help lower the cost of high-speed Internet access and boost the efficiency of telecommunications networks.  

Competitive Insights

The key industry participants of the marketplace are Cisco Systems Inc., Finisar Corporation, Intel Corporation, Mellanox Technologies,STMicroelectronics N.V., and Molex Incorporated. The present day marketplace is witnessing a focused competition between the key players for realizing the market domination via innovative product launches and enhancement of transmission capabilities.

Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth on the 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 silicon photonics industry on the basis of components, products, applications, and region:

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

  • Optical Waveguides

  • Optical Modulators

  • Photodetectors

  • Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) Filters

  • Laser

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

  • Transceivers

  • Active Optical Cables

  • Optical Multiplexers

  • Optical Attenuators

  • Others

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

  • IT & Telecommunications

  • Consumer Electronics

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences

  • Commercial

  • Defense and Security

  • Others (Media & Advertising)

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

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • Germany

    • UK

    • France

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • Japan

    • India

  • Latin America

    • Mexico

    • Brazil

  • MEA