NEWS
LASERS IN ACTION
IN BRIEF
Eugene Scherbakov, the former COO and managing director of IPG Photonics’ German subsidiary IPG Laser, has succeeded Valentin Gapontsev as CEO of IPG Photonics. Gapontsev founded the company and will continue to direct its R&D and strategy.
Swiss laser cutting firm Bystronic is now listed on the Zurich Six Swiss Exchange as ‘BYS’. The firm also recently acquired Spanish software specialist Kurago to strengthen its service portfolio.
II-VI is set to acquire Coherent for approximately $7bn after a lengthy bidding war with Lumentum and MKS Instruments. The transaction remains on track to close by the end of 2021.
Trumpf has acquired sheet metal processing software developer Lantek to increase its coverage of the sheet metal process chain, and enrich its Smart Factory solution portfolio.
Optical technology firm Nikon has acquired a majority stake of Morf3D, an additive manufacturing and engineering specialist for the aerospace, space and defence industries.
Laser systems market demonstrates resilience to last year’s macro-economic environment
The global market for laser systems for materials processing accounted for $17.4bn in 2020, down just 2 per cent compared to the previous year, market research firm Optech Consulting has reported. This decrease is remarkably
moderate given the macro- economic environment in 2020, which was characterised by a 3.5 per cent decrease in global GDP1. The decrease is in contrast
to the sharp 20 per cent drop of the global machine tool market last year.
Market growth in Asia despite pandemic At the beginning of 2020, the industrial laser systems market was in a correction phase, after a decade of continued growth that started in 2010. The correction, which began in the second half of 2018, resulted in a 10 per cent decrease of the industrial laser systems market in 2019 compared to 2018. Early last year the impact of the pandemic on the market was mainly limited to China. In the following months, the economic impact of the pandemic spread around the world with the virus. But at the same time, the
economy in China began to recover, and the industrial laser systems market in China even grew year-on-year in 2020. In other parts of Asia
4 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE SUMMER 2021
Global market for laser materials processing systems
the market increased, including South Korea, Taiwan and several of the ASEAN countries. In contrast, the markets in Europe, Japan, and to a lesser extent North America decreased. The market’s growth in Asia was driven by consumer electronics. In addition, laser applications in e-mobility added to the growth, while the broader automotive industry remained on the sidelines for capital expenditures, due to a depressed car market. In China, a major driver of the market increase in 2020 was the revival of rapid adoption of laser technology in manufacturing. It started years ago, but came to a temporary halt in 2019.
Outlook for 2021 The demand for industrial laser systems is strongly susceptible to macro-economic cycles. The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly and upwardly revised its growth expectations for 2020 and 2021 versus
very low estimates published earlier in 2020. Based on the present forecast of 6 per cent global GDP growth for 2021, Optech Consulting expects the industrial laser systems market will increase at a double-digit rate in 2021. That estimate is for the US$-based growth rate, while the rate in other currencies is expected to be lower due to the shift of exchange rates this year.
Laser oscillator market for materials processing While more information is still to be gathered by Optech Consulting, the firm has revealed the market for laser oscillators for materials processing accounted for $4.3bn in 2020, up 2 per cent year-on-year. The increase was mainly due to an increase in low-cost kilowatt class fibre laser sales in China.
Reference 1
International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook – April 2021
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