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08-Jun-06 Singapore, June 8, 2006 – The global optoelectronics market, valued at around US$270 billion in 2005, is expected to be worth US$1 trillion by 2015. Asia, which acts as the world's manufacturing base for optoelectronics displays, storage, communications devices and components, accounts for more than 50% of the market, and will approach US$600 billion by 2015. Optoelectronics which includes any electronics that make, control and apply light, including materials, parts, instruments and systems has been credited as the main driving force in the revival of the electronics industry in recent years. The strong showing has been credited to the rapid growth seen since 2001 in demand for computers and consumer electronics which is itself partially being driven by advances in displays and image capturing technology.
Optoelectronic-based products such as camera phones, PDAs, digital cameras and LCD TVs have been embraced by consumers, carving out a large portion of the market in Asia. The convergence of technologies such as cameras, digital music and PDAs is also bringing longevity to the lifecycle growth phase of mobile phones. The applications of optoelectronics in Asia are diverse, ranging from image sensors for use on transportation systems in Hong Kong, through High Brightness LEDs (HBLEDs) for camera flash, backlight and projector lights in Korea and Taiwan, to nano-photonics applications in Japan. While emerging optoelectronics countries like China are trying to move beyond the production of optical components to encompass the full spectrum of R&D and manufacturing abilities for cutting-edge optical products; more advanced countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan are starting to transfer product technology to other parts of Asia to take advantage of lower labour costs. However, the latest, cutting-edge technologies seldom leave home shores until work on the next generation technology is well advanced. New product development It is estimated that by 2010, 22% of the global optoelectronics market value will come from new product technology. This will increase to 37% by 2015, with the fastest growth coming from displays, info-communication and optical memory sectors. By then, futuristic products like flexible screens and energy-saving surface conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs) will be commonplace. The pace of change for these sectors is rapid. Even as leading manufacturers including Hyundai, Sony and Fujitsu are launching new products with OLED and flexible displays technology such as e-books and OLED television sets, Canon, Toshiba and Samsung are already looking at developing another new technology, SED panels. These will consume less energy than plasma or LCD, deliver a better picture, cost less to manufacture and effectively render the current generation of flat screen TVs as yesterday's news. On the other side of the Pacific, Motorola has unveiled a similar new technology called the nano-emissive display (NED) which it intends to license to other manufacturers. With aggressive adoption of its technology, NEDs could be in production within two years. NEDs are relatively cheap to build because fewer steps are required. In addition, to convert LCD plants to NED plants, manufacturers only need to replace half of the existing production equipment. For a plasma display facility, only a quarter of the equipment needs to be replaced. Still, NED technology is in its infancy, and it remains to be seen whether manufacturers will embrace the new format given the very hefty investments already made in LCD and plasma plants. Some industry observers however, are skeptical that the new SED technology might displace LCDs and plasma anytime soon. "The momentum of LCDs will make it very difficult for any new display technology to gain significant market share. The one display that we believe will carve its own niche together with LCD is the emissive OLED based displays. Even though OLEDs show promise, they are not expected to become a strong competitor to LCD and will only at best be a small fraction of the display component market over the next decade," said Dr. Michael Lebby, President and CEO of the Optical Industry Development Association (OIDA) in a discussion with Fusion Consulting. Wireless threat On the info communications front, players like Nokia and LG are said to be in talks to integrate the mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology into their mobile phones to complement 3G networks. Intel's WiMax technology, an advancement of the WiFi technology, allows users simultaneously to receive mobile calls over the Internet and streaming video at up to 2.5 Mbps on a variety of devices. The deployment of "fixed WiMax" in homes could spell a threat to the growth of fiber optics in the near future. However, OIDA believes the development of Wimax will complement the current optical networks by allowing consumers to see the benefit of using larger data pipes and the range of available services that require larger pipes on the network. View of the future Looking to the future, it would be seem that the key to success in the optoelectronics business is not only to be at the forefront of technology, but also ensure that ease of adoption is sufficient to generate critical mass in the market before next generation technologies can gain a foothold. About Fusion Consulting For more information, please contact Fusion Consulting at
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