Recently, many people in the optical module industry chain have said frankly that the demand for 5G is not as good as expected. At the same time, LightCounting also pointed out in the latest report that 5G deployment is slowing, especially in the Chinese market. Do not have much hope for the return of 5G fronthaul demand in the short term.
At the same time, in the field of 5G fronthaul, the three major domestic operators have launched innovative solutions. But so far, the centralized procurement of the three major operators has not purchased innovative solutions on a large scale, and is still dominated by traditional passive CWDM. As an important part of related solutions, optical module manufacturers have followed up one after another, and the delay in large-scale procurement has also put pressure on early investment manufacturers.
In addition, since the industry was generally optimistic about the prospects of the 5G market at the beginning, before the start of the 5G cycle, in addition to the early deployment of traditional optical module manufacturers, optical equipment, optical fiber and cable companies also gathered together to enter. In addition, many communications listed companies have also entered this market with the help of capital. The slowdown in overall 5G demand may also make these companies a little confused.
However, overall, the development of China's optical module market is still in the growth stage. According to market reports, China has already accounted for six of the world's top 10 optical module companies, compared with only one 10 years ago. There are also many Chinese optical module companies ranked 10th to 15th.
In addition, although the demand for 5G is difficult to return in a short time, it is still growing rapidly in the fields of data communication optical modules and next-generation access network modules. The increase in capital expenditures of top cloud service vendors and the acceleration of gigabit optical networks are good evidence.
LightCounting data shows that by 2026, the average annual compound growth rate of the 400G high-speed optical module market will reach 20.5%. In 2021, the 400G optical module market will exceed US$1 billion, an increase of 140% year-on-year.