Asia emerging as photonic integrated circuit power says report

North America provides the largest percentage of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) demand, but Asian firms are catching up, according to a new report from Transparency Market Research.

The report, "Photonic Integrated Circuit Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, and Forecast, 2012 – 2018," defines a PIC as a device “that integrates a number of photonic functions and is analogous to an electronic integrated circuit,” according to a press release. PIC use in optical communications has grown at what the release terms “a phenomenal rate” thanks to improvements in power consumption, system size, reliability, and cost. Using monolithically integrated InP, PIC developers can integrate more than 600 components in a single chip, the report states.

North America currently supports more than 40% of the overall PIC market, with Europe second worldwide. However, Transparency Research expects Asia-Pacific to emerge as a market leader, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 35% thanks to significant growth in data centers and broadband access networks.

The report identifies the following companies as “some of the major players” in PIC technology: Agilent Technologies, Aifotec, Alcatel-Lucent, Avago Technologies, Infinera, Ciena, NeoPhotonics, Emcore, Finisar, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, JDSU, Enablence Technologies, KAIAM, Luxtera, CyOptics (recently purchased by Avago), Oclaro, OneChip Photonics, and TE Connectivity.

"Photonic Integrated Circuit Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, and Forecast, 2012 – 2018" covers trends in the market, industry growth drivers, and restraints. It also provides market projections and analysis of recent developments in technology.

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