Chinese suppliers take control of the global transceiver market: LightCounting
From occupying a small percent of the global transceiver market in 2012, Chinese manufacturers of optical components and modules have come to dominate optical transceiver sales, LightCounting asserts in its newly released Vendors and Markets for Optics in China report. In fact, market segments such as FTTx and wireless fronthaul are almost fully owned by Chinese suppliers, the market research firm asserts.
The figure above illustrates how the market share Chinese companies control has grown in the case of Ethernet optical modules. The success of the Chinese suppliers has forced several Western companies to leave the market, LightCounting points out.
Chinese transceiver vendors initially relied on strong demand within their home country. However, the success of companies such as Innolight and more recently Eoptolink with U.S.-based cloud companies indicates that Chinese vendors have started to become more global players.
That said, all is not lost for Western optical transceiver vendors. Such suppliers continue to do well in high-end areas such as pluggable high-speed DWDM transceivers. How long such dominance will continue is uncertain. For example, LightCounting forecasts that at least some Chinese companies will enter this space. On the other, Huawei may find that U.S. government restrictions on sales of advanced ICs and IC manufacturing technologies to the company and its suppliers may limit Huawei’s ability to supply 400G pluggable DWDM modules. It may take the company 2-3 years to overcome such hurdles, LightCounting says.
More information on the report is available on LightCounting’s website.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.