IR LED Market Worth Over $1bn By 2024

The infrared LED market size is set to exceed $1 billion by 2024 according to a new research report by Global Market Insights. Shipments worldwide are set to grow at over 17 percent CAGR between 2018 and 2024 for both 700 to 850nm and the 850nm to 940nm devices.

For the 850nm to 940nm devices, drivers for growth include increasing demand for cameras with night vision capabilities and remote sensing in automotive and consumer electronic industry. The biometrics industry is another key segment driven by the growing adoption of iris and facial recognition in electronic devices including in mobile payment services that require secure and reliable authentication for users.

Several LED manufacturing companies are taking advantage of these opportunities and are launching advanced components for biometric applications. For instance, recently GOME, one of the electronic retailers in China collaborated with Osram Opto Semiconductors to integrate the Iris recognition technology in their smartphones.

In North America, the IR LED market is expected to reach over $350 million by 2024 owing to increasing demands from the surveillance industry, adopting advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, facial recognition and surveillance automation. The demand for such technologies is increasing across airports, commercial buildings and other public buildings. Surveillance has been integral to the US for law enforcement and is part of critical national infrastructure.

Key vendors in the infrared LED market space include Everlight, Vishay Intertechnology, Epistar, Rohm Semiconductor, etc. To sustain competition, players have been focusing on new product launches and targeting the consumer electronics segment for larger market share. In 2018, Osram Opto Semiconductors expanded its product portfolio of IR LED by announcing six novel IR LEDs (IREDs) for automotive use. The addition includes 850nm IR components for applications such as pedestrian protection, night vision, and other exterior applications and 940 nm infrared components for applications such as gesture recognition, driver monitoring, and other interior applications.

Several companies in the industry have shifted their focus on the infrared LED market considering the demand and the huge potential. Everlight in 2017 reported that business contributed 25 percent of its total revenue. The market share of Epistar in these LED chips was over 10 percent of all AlGaInP chip output in 2015.