Trends in the development of optics in China
Release Time:
2025-05-15
outline: Materials science breakthrough: Rare earth elements are applied to special glass, improving the light transmittance of domestic lenses; Tsinghua University's research and development of quantum dot optical films has increased the color gamut of displays to 140% NTSC, breaking the technological monopoly of Japanese companies.
Technological Innovation and Upgrades
Materials Science Breakthroughs: Rare earth elements are used in special glass, improving the light transmittance of domestic lenses; Tsinghua University's research and development of quantum dot optical thin films has increased the color gamut of displays to 140% NTSC, breaking the technological monopoly of Japanese companies.
Development of Optical Imaging Technology: Super-resolution microscopy technology continues to refresh resolution records, and sub-5nm resolution microscopy imaging technology leads people into a more microscopic world; computational optical imaging technology is based on new optical devices, providing new ideas for breaking through the limitations of traditional optical systems.
Advances in Optical Communication and Optical Sensing Technology: 6G accelerates the advancement of optical transmission rates to the Tbps level, giving rise to new scenarios such as holographic communication and the metaverse; optical sensing technology, from fiber optic earthquake early warning to quantum precision measurement, breaks physical limits and empowers new markets such as smart cities, the industrial internet, and biomedicine.
Market Size Growth
Optical Lens Market: The global optical lens market is expected to exceed US$10 billion in 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 7.3%. The size of the Chinese market reached 16.13 billion yuan in 2023, and is expected to exceed 18 billion yuan in 2025. As the world's largest smartphone and new energy vehicle market, China has a strong demand for high-end optical lenses, contributing about 45% of the global market growth.
Free Space Optics (FSO) Communication Market: Between 2025 and 2030, the Chinese FSO communication market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 15%, expanding from approximately 1 billion yuan in 2025 to 4.5 billion yuan in 2030.
Application Field Expansion
Consumer Electronics Field: The trend of multi-camera and high-pixel smartphones is driving the growth of lens demand, with the demand for mobile phone lenses accounting for 68% in 2024. In wearable devices, the demand for wide-angle and low-distortion lenses in AR/VR devices is increasing, with the market size expected to reach 12 million units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 45%.
Automotive and Security Fields: The intelligence of automobiles has led to the popularization of L3 autonomous driving, with the number of lenses per vehicle increasing from 2 to 8. The market size of automotive lenses is expected to reach US$2.11 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 19.1%. In terms of security monitoring, the demand for high-definition monitoring lenses has surged in the construction of smart cities, with the demand for security lenses reaching 420 million units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%.
Medical Imaging Field: Endoscopes and surgical microscopes are being upgraded to 4K/8K, and the replacement rate of domestic equipment has increased to 35%.
Industrial Inspection Field: The demand for ultra-precision inspection lenses in the semiconductor and new energy fields is increasing, with the procurement volume of industrial lenses increasing by 22% in 2024.
Accelerated Domestic Substitution
Policy Promotion: Government procurement restrictions require that the procurement ratio of domestic equipment in medical institutions should not be less than 55%, directly promoting the application of domestic lenses in scientific research and medical fields. The National Development and Reform Commission has established a "Special Fund for Domestic Substitution of High-end Scientific Instruments," with an initial investment of 5 billion yuan to support key technological breakthroughs.
Technological Breakthroughs: The domestic project of the lithography machine optical system supporting SMIC has made a breakthrough, and the 28nm node lithography machine objective system developed by Shanghai Microelectronics has passed verification. The large-aperture aspheric lens processing technology led by Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has made China the third country in the world to master the manufacturing capability of meter-level optical components.
outline: The 20th "China Optics Valley" International Optoelectronics Expo (hereinafter referred to as the Optics Expo) opened on May 15, 2025, at the China Optics Valley Science and Technology Convention and Exhibition Center. The expo was hosted by the People's Government of Hubei Province and co-hosted by the People's Government of Wuhan City, the Hubei Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, and the Management Committee of Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone. Themed "Light Connects All Things, Intelligence Leads the Future," this year's expo was included for the first time in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) global series of events for the International Day of Light, making it a major focus in the global optoelectronics field.
2025-05-18
outline: From March 11th to 13th, 2025, the 20th anniversary grand celebration of the Munich Shanghai Optical Fair was successfully concluded at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. This year's exhibition was unprecedented in scale, presenting the industry with a comprehensive and high-level technological feast. At the same time, this exhibition fully demonstrated, from the breadth of the exhibition scope, the richness of optoelectronic products, the novelty of trend transmission, and the depth of exchange and cooperation, the rapid development of the optoelectronic industry under the global wave through technological innovation, international cooperation, and industrial chain integration, winning high recognition and praise from industry enterprises and partners.
2025-03-14
outline: LASER World of Photonics, Munich is the world's only professional optoelectronics exhibition covering all categories of the optoelectronics industry and showcasing the most cutting-edge technologies. It is hosted by Messe München GmbH, a renowned German exhibition group. Thousands of optoelectronics companies from around the world will gather at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre. Novel, technologically advanced new products, innovative solutions, and cutting-edge applications will be showcased. The large number of investors and traders attending the exhibition will pave the way for advanced science and technology to be transformed into real productivity.
2024-09-14