Global market for laser materials processing systems grows 6.8 percent in 2016

The global market for laser systems for materials processing increased by 6.8 percent in 2016 and reached a new record volume of $12.6 billion, according to Optech Consulting, Taegerwilen, Switzerland, a market research and consulting firm serving the laser and photonics industry.

Demand in China surged by nearly 20 percent, where the manufacturing industry continued to invest heavily in laser-based equipment despite the deteriorated economic environment. The demand for laser systems in Europe and North America trended sideward in 2016. Japan added a positive contribution to the global laser systems market with the increased value of the Japanese yen.

On the supply side, laser system manufacturers in China benefited from the surging demand in their country, while imports declined.

Laser macroprocessing systems, used for cutting, welding, marking, and additive manufacturing, account for 75 percent of the total market volume of $12.6 billion. The market segment increased by 4.5 percent in 2016 and outpaced the machine tool market, which contracted by 3 percent according to VDW (German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association). Still, the automotive industry is a major driver, with substantial investments in high-power laser welding and cutting equipment.

The market for laser systems for microelectronics processing accounts for 25 percent of the total $12.6 billion. The segment expanded by 15 percent in 2016 mainly because of the increased use of laser processes for the manufacturing of mobile electronic devices and their components, such as displays and semiconductors.

The global market for laser sources for materials processing accounted for $3.3 billion in 2016, up 5.4 percent from the previous year. Fiber lasers now hold a 40 percent market share, ahead of gas lasers, represented by CO2 and excimer lasers (35 percent) and bulk solid-state and diode lasers (25 percent). The demand for fiber lasers grew by 15 percent last year to $1.3 billion. Their major applications are cutting, welding, marking, and additive manufacturing.

The market volume for bulk solid-state lasers grew in the ultrashort-pulsed segment, but it contracted in the segment of longer-pulsed products. Fiber lasers continued to take away market share from high-power CO2 lasers and bulk solid-state lasers. In the meantime, CO2 lasers lost most of their market share in high-power cutting and welding, and their major applications now are marking and the processing of nonmetals. In addition, the use of CO2 lasers for the generation of extreme ultraviolet for microlithography increasingly contributes to the CO2 laser market. Excimer lasers are mainly used for microlithography and in flat-panel display manufacturing. Their market volume increased strongly in 2016 with rising demand for flat-panel display annealing.