OIDA Annual Forum Promotes Energy and Industrial Optoelectronics Applications.

Resurgent Communications Market Noted as Well

WASHINGTON -- At the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) annual meeting, attendees were given a variety of viewpoints into the trends that will influence optoelectronics market growth over the next decade. This year's event focused on two markets that have recently shown national importance and market strength: industrial lasers and energy. The conference also highlighted the reemergence of the communications market now underway. Featured speakers included Senator John Ensign (R-NV) and Mark Foulon, Acting Undersecretary for Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce, as well as a host of market leaders in the industry.

"2006 has been a good year for optoelectronics in general, with most markets showing double-digit growth. "We have a lot of 'opto-mism' about the markets this year," commented Dr. Michael Lebby, OIDA's President and CEO. "We've seen vibrancy and growth in all segments, including communications, but two of the most promising sectors are industrial and energy."

Lebby explained that critical to the growth of these markets are regulatory and legislative input. In his presentation, Senator Ensign addressed the importance of communicating effectively with law makers about issues that will affect the industry. Some relevant issues currently being debated on Capitol Hill include American competitiveness, alternative energy and conservation, security, telecommunications, and education. Mr. Foulon discussed key export, security, and regulatory issues that affect much of the optoelectronics market and that need input from industry.

From a product and technology perspective, the industrial sector was represented by Holger Schlueter, Vice President of Laser Development and Production at Trumpf and John Ambroseo, CEO of Coherent. In their talks, they showed that industrial laser source applications now exceed the market for communications and are near parity with storage. The market is characterized by a move to diode-pumped solid state lasers (either disk or fiber) from more traditional rod and gas lasers. These architectures have offered dramatic improvements in efficiency, flexibility, and size, which led to growth of 14% in 2005 and are underscored by the impending IPO of IPG Photonics in Boston.

The energy sector of optoelectronics was represented by talks from Philips Lumileds on solid-state lighting (SSL), and Emcore on solar cells. George Craford, CTO at Lumileds, pointed out that current generation white light LEDs will soon exceed the efficiency of fluorescent lights and that new, lower cost production has accelerated the deployment in energy saving applications. Since these devices have lifetimes in the 10s of years, they expect that the light-bulb industry will shrink with wider deployment, further reducing life-cycle costs. Reuben Richards, CEO of Emcore, showed that the demand for on-grid and off-grid applications is growing at 28%/yr and is large enough now to cause dislocations in the silicon market. This highlights the importance of non-silicon and high efficiency devices. SSL and solar technologies combined already make solar-powered lighting an economically feasible choice in many homes today; issues to adoption center more around industry incentives, regulations, and building codes and habits.

In his presentation, Dr. Lebby highlighted several key areas of market development culled from OIDA's annual Global Market Survey and Forecast. Highlights included:

* Including all segments, the global optoelectronics market grew 20% to $364B in 2005 and will be a $1T industry by 2015.

* Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) account for over 70% of the optical components industry - with continuing growth trend.

* Solar cells and display modules exhibited the strongest segment growth in 2005 (24% and 19% respectively)

* Communications markets clocked in at 14% growth in 2005 with faster growth likely in 2006.

* Within sources and detectors, image sensors and high brightness LEDs (HBLEDs) now own 60% of the global optoelectronics sources and detectors market, primarily for cellphone and PDA applications.

Developments in communications were highlighted by Keynote speaker Rajiv Ramaswami, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco, Giorgio Anania, CEO of Bookham, Giovanni Barbarossa, CTO of Avanex, and Terry Unter, CEO of Mintera

Technology evolution was developed in a panel session featuring Patrik Evaldsson, CEO of Syntune, Jean-Louis Malinge, CEO of Kotura, Jeff Ritichier, CEO of Xponent, and Hal Zarem, CEO of Silicon Light Machines. Future technologies were explored at a poster session sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The evolution of the business models of optoelectronics companies was discussed by a panel including Tim Jenks, CEO of NeoPhotonics, Ed Coringrato, CEO of CyOptics, Waguih Ishak, CTO of Avago, Mike Scott, Founder of IQE, and Steve Grubb, Director at Infinera.

Financial trends were also highlighted in a session including John Dexheimer of First Analysis, Bob Flanagan of Cowen and Company, John Kunschner with Jeffries Broadview, Kevin Slocum with Greenwich Technology Advisors and Jeffrey Cheng, Vice President of Corporate Development with Arasor.

Copies of the presentations and details about the event are available at www.oida.org where OIDA's annual Global Market Survey and Forecast is available for sale.

About OIDA

The Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) is a Washington DC-based, not-for-profit association that serves as the nexus for vision, transformation, and growth of the optoelectronics industry. OIDA advances the competitiveness of its members by focusing on the business of technology, not just technology itself. OIDA members include the leading providers of optoelectronic components and systems enabled by optoelectronics, as well as universities and research institutions. OIDA provides roadmaps, reports, and market data for the optoelectronics industry, serves as the voice of industry to government and academia, acts as liaison with other optoelectronic industry associations worldwide, and provides a network for the exchange of ideas and information within the optoelectronics community. Learn more about OIDA at www.oida.org.