According to preliminary estimates by market research firm Optech Consulting, the global market for industrial laser systems reaches US$22 billion in 2022, almost the same size as the previous year's market (US$21.3 billion).
According to the analysis, the main reason behind this growth stagnation is the strong growth in the Americas and the decline in demand in the Chinese market, which has also seen a change in the situation after the sharp growth achieved in 2021.
For the European market, the market demand has increased in local currency terms, but after incorporating the effects of currency effects, the value of the dollar in the regional market has not increased. Compared to 2021, the average value of the euro against the dollar decreases by more than 10% in 2022.
In terms of application areas, laser applications related to electric vehicles (EVs) and semiconductor manufacturing achieved continued strong growth and were the strongest performers.
The most critical industrial laser market in the global industrial laser systems market reaches US$5.3 billion in 2022, the same final value as in 2021 and equivalent to 24% of the laser systems market.
By 2023, Optech Consulting expects the market for industrial lasers and systems to grow by between 5-10%. North America and Europe are expected to continue to grow, while China, the largest market, is still difficult to pinpoint the accuracy of the prognosis.
These preliminary estimates above are based on data available until December 2022, which includes financial reports for the first three quarters of the year.
And the global market for industrial laser systems reaches a record high of US$21.3 billion in 2021, up 22% on 2020. The market for industrial lasers also reaches a new record of US$5.2 billion in 2021. These estimates were compiled based on data up to mid-January 2022.
According to Optech Consulting, the global market for industrial laser systems (laser machines for laser material processing) has been growing at an average annual rate of 10.5% over the past 35 years. In contrast, the market for machine tools has only grown at a rate of around 3 per cent. Over the past 15 years, the global market for laser systems has grown at an average annual rate of 9 per cent, which is lower than the 13 per cent average growth rate of previous years. Thankfully, however, the market has not shown a trend towards saturation until today.
