After a sluggish first quarter caused by supply chain and demand issue caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (see “LightCounting expects optical transceiver and component sales rebound after slow 2020 start”), sales of optical transceivers bounced back strongly in the second quarter of this year, says LightCounting. In fact, revenues set a quarterly record of nearly $1.8 billion, the market research firm states in its most recent Quarterly Market Update Report.
Sales during the quarter topped the previous milestone, set in Q4 2019, by 10%, says LightCounting. The rebound was sufficient to push total first half numbers 16% higher than those of the first six months of last year and “a bit higher” than the last six months of 2019. Ethernet optical transceiver revenues accounted for nearly $1 billion of that total, 23% beyond sales in Q4 2019. Sales of 2x200GbE and 400GbE transceivers exceeded $100 million, doubling the Q4 2019 total and up 35% sequentially, while 100GbE transceivers also set a sales record and are expected to continue to show strength for the rest of the year. Even sales of 40GbE, 10GbE, and 1GbE modules grew, although LightCounting expects this blossoming to be temporary.
Looking ahead, LightCounting analysts remain bullish about the long-term prospects for high-speed optical transceivers. However, the market researchers say they expect one of the anticipated catalysts for module sales, 5G roll-outs, to lose steam in the second half of the year. Uncertainty regarding what will happen in China, where the majority of 5G mobile deployments are taking place, is the cause of LightCounting’s pessimism. The company also notes that if sharply lower spending by enterprise customers and telecom service providers in the U.S. and Europe seen in the first half continues, that could slow second-half momentum as well.
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