Technical Insight
North American opto markets to expand (Market News)
The North American market for optoelectronic components, which generated revenues of $1.97 billion in 1999, is set to grow to $10.11 billion in 2006, according to Frost & Sullivan. The study identifies LEDs, photodetectors and laser diodes as the fastest-growing segments, while an important market also exists for IR optocouplers. Driving this expansion are developments in high brightness GaN-based blue and green LEDs, which have greatly expanded the scope for applications in automotive, video displays, signage and traffic signals. Also, InP-based laser diodes are widely used as the primary light sources in the fiber-optic communications market, and vertical emitters are providing a highly manufacturable, low-cost light source suited to both telecom and datacom applications. The photodetector segment in particular is expected to produce high returns by integrating photodetectors with laser diodes in transceiver modules. "North American Optoelectronics Markets" is available from Frost & Sullivan see "www.frost.com".
