China industrial lasers market worth around RMB 11 billion in 2010

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Assessment of China's Market for Industrial Lasers" report to its offering.

The domestic industrial lasers market in China is valued at approximately RMB 11 billion in revenues as of year-end 2010, according to a recently published GCiS study. This study focuses on domestic sales of three major types of lasers: solid state, gas and semiconductor. The market grew by approximately 25 percent in 2010.

Improvements in user-friendliness, a growth in applications and increases in downstream industries such as photovoltaic manufacturing are driving this growth. Solid state lasers are the most widely sold technology. This is due to the large quantities of lower spec lasers that domestic suppliers are producing. Gas lasers are also prominently produced, with CO2 lasers making up the bulk of this supply.

But downstream overcapacity threatens to inhibit this growth. Lasers are beneficial in reducing batch downtimes. But where factories are 20-30 percent underutilized, there don't have the time and space constraints that justify spending the hundreds of thousands of RMB that a laser costs. Customers in China are also put off by these high price tags, especially as lasers have to compete against ultra cheap substitutes such as welding.

Nevertheless, lasers are helping local manufacturers by introducing higher quality and precision into value chain. One supplier interviewed by GCiS claimed that we are entering a golden age for industrial lasers in China.