Can be said that the VCSEL market driven by the iPhone X get the attention of the industry as a whole, the relevant market segment also ushered in a blowout growth.Market research firm forecasts that in 2015 the VCSEL market size of 956.6 million US dollars, to 2022 projected Will grow to 31.241 billion US dollars, 2016-2022 compound annual growth rate of up to 17.3%.
VCSEL industry chain overall growth
In fact, Apple's first device to use the VCSEL transmitter is AirPods, a wireless headset released last year, which is used to monitor the status of the device being taken off or in use. Using three VCSEL chips, Apple's demand for the chip started to increase as shipments of the iPhone X went up, and Apple revealed that the company's purchases of VCSEL chips increased in the fourth quarter of this year compared with 2016 10 times.
This directly contributed to the strong growth VCSEL industry chain.In addition to Finisar, in August this year, the British Wales semiconductor company IQE shares soared because of rumors that the company has become an Apple supplier, and IQE's business direction is the development of VCSEL chip Special wafer required.
Another example, IC packaging and testing plant in Taiwan benefit from access to Apple's 3D sensing supply chain, consolidated revenue of 543 million yuan in November, setting a single month in nearly three years, record highs and record highs to Apple 3D sensor module In terms of group architecture, TSMC is responsible for the manufacturing of diffractive optical components (DOE), of which the DOE components are the key optical components of the infrared transmitting module. After procurement by TSMC, the glass is routed to the finishing assembly to stack the glass and VCSEL components, , After grinding, by mining Cai Yu, and finally returned to the fine material after cutting shipments to the module foundry.Secretary said that as 3D sensing technology is considered the market trend of the future, Apple plans to launch in the next year iPhone and iPad equipped with 3D sensor module is expected to light the demand for 3D sensing module next year, Apple reached 200 million units, an increase of nearly 1.5 times this year.
Benefiting from the fact that Finisar and Lumentum are considered as two key VCSEL suppliers for iPhone X TrueDepth cameras, Lumentum originally had orders for 100% low-power VCSEL from Apple and 75% for high-power VCSEL (for iPhone X). Apple's latest investment plan means that Finisar's VCSEL shipments will increase substantially, after Finisar shares rose 21% before the open bell, Lucery shares fell 5.8% before the opening bell, VCSEL maker II-VI Rose 1.6%. Other optical stocks news, AAOI shares fell 1.4% and Acacia Communications shares rose slightly 0.03%.
The industry speculates that Apple's investment in Finisar is due to Lumentum's production capacity problems.And Apple's investment in Finisar, Finisar need to reopen the plant has been discontinued, but also to recruit support for the production of engineers and workers about 500 people, the second half of next year goods.
Research and Development of Domestic Mobile Phone VCSEL Chip
At present, there are only 78 companies in the world who are devoted to the design of mobile terminals, such as Finsar, Lumentum, Princeton Optronics, Heptagon (acquired by AMS), Ⅱ VI and others, most of them in the United States. They are on the mobile VCSEL R & D front-line role of the existing VCSEL device manufacturers in China, including Wuhan Fast, Jiangsu Hua Xin, Shandong Pacific Ocean, Shenzhen and other countries are also actively preparing for.
It is reported that Hua Xin 850nm 10Gbps VCSEL has volume production and sales, and many domestic mobile phone supply chain manufacturers have come in contact with some companies even hope Can directly help them develop related products.Huoxin is similar to Finisar and high-power VCSEL, can help mobile phone manufacturers to improve the performance of 3D sensing.
Although Apple currently only uses VCSEL chips on the iPhone X and AirPods, it may appear on the line of iPad and Mac notebooks, and finally, both the supply chain and the media have already exposed Apple in 2019, the latest 2020 Launched AR Eyewear Device. On AR devices, the 3D sensor used to sense the environment is also one of the core components.
Non-Apple camp cell phone factory also began to expand the layout, including Qualcomm together spectacle cooperation in the development of 3D sensing technology, Huawei's own research and development of 3D sensor module, have the opportunity to be equipped with Android smartphones in the second half of next year.It is foreseeable that, Apple demand will mainly determine consumer VCSEL laser chip trend, its corresponding suppliers such as Lumentum and Finisar, etc., will also dance with Apple.On the other hand, follow-up on the Face ID of domestic mobile phone will be the VCSEL laser Chip brings new burst point.