Laser is one of the four inventions of the 20th century. It has the characteristics of high strength, good monochromaticity, good coherence and good directionality. It is called "the fastest knife, the brightest light, the most accurate ruler". The upstream of the laser pointer industry chain includes laser crystals, optical lenses, various types of lasers, numerical control systems, etc.; midstream equipment includes laser cutting machines, laser welding machines, laser marking machines, laser engraving machines, laser cosmetic equipment, lighting equipment, etc.; After years of development, various types of laser equipment have been widely used in many downstream industries such as material processing, electronic information, aerospace, medical, military weapons, communications.
The laser pointer is the part used to generate the laser and is the core component of the laser device. In 2017, global laser sales revenue reached US$12.430 billion, with a growth rate of 18.16%, of which the fiber laser market reached US$2.039 billion with a growth rate of 24.78%. At the same time, fiber lasers are used in industrial lasers. The market share reached 47.26%, replacing the CO2 laser as a new generation of mainstream industrial lasers. At present, China's medium and low power fiber lasers have basically completed import substitution, and the localization rate of high power fiber lasers is still relatively low, only about 10% in 2017. With the technological breakthrough of domestic fiber laser enterprises, China's high-power fiber lasers will have a high probability of replicating the process of importing low- and medium-power lasers.
Among the costs of high-power laser pointer processing equipment, lasers account for about 50% or more. The acceleration of localization of high-power fiber lasers will greatly improve the cost performance of laser processing equipment, and the industry is expected to usher in an explosive phase. Similar to industrial robots, laser processing equipment can replace many traditional equipment in industrial production, such as laser marking machine instead of ink jet printer, laser cutting machine instead of flame cutting equipment, laser welding machine instead of traditional welding equipment. With the upgrading of industrial automation, industrial production puts higher requirements on precision, efficiency and reliability, and the cost performance of laser processing equipment is gradually emerging. In 2017, the sales volume of industrial lasers and systems in China reached 49.5 billion yuan, and the growth momentum in the future is still sufficient.