Cignal AI reports that total revenue for optical components, a category that includes optical transceivers, grew 15% in 2021. Components for datacom optical network applications led the way, growing 27% to account for $4.7 billion of the total $14.5 billion component sales registered for the year within the datacom, telecom, industrial, and consumer markets, the market research firm states in its latest Optical Components Report.

A transition by large cloud service providers and some enterprise network operators toward 400-Gbps transmission helped spur this growth. For example, 1.8 million QSFP-DD and OSFP datacom modules shipped during 2021, most of which were DR4 format. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 400G pluggable coherent modules shipped at the same time, with QSFP-DD ZR devices accounting for the majority.

“The transition to 400GbE is well underway, and pluggable coherent 400Gbps technology is revolutionizing the design of the optical networks that connect datacenters,” said Scott Wilkinson, Lead Optical Component Analyst at Cignal AI. “400Gbps speeds will drive spending and bandwidth growth both inside and outside the datacenter in 2022,” Scott added.

More Key Findings from the 4Q21 Optical Components Report:

• Supply chain difficulties limited Telecom optical components market growth the most in 2021. However, the segment is forecast to grow more than 8% in 2022.
• Consumer component revenue for 3D sensing applications was flat YoY as lower-cost components offset higher unit shipments.
• Industrial optical components used for welding and medical applications grew 18% in 2021, following a weak 2020. Following the acquisition of Coherent, II-VI is poised to control over 50% of this market.
• 1.8M QSFP-DD Datacom modules shipped during 2021, most of which were DR4 format. The report also tracks SR4, FR4, and LR4 Datacom transceivers.
• Over 60k 400Gbps pluggable coherent modules shipped last year, the majority of which were QSFP-DD ZR. The report captures the shipment details of all the emerging derivatives of this format, including ZR, ZR+, 0dB ZR+, and CFP2 based ZR+.
• Shipments of 200Gbps coherent CFP2 modules grew 17% to just over 200k units during 2021 as Chinese OEMs ramp this speed (which is less dependent on western technology) for longer distance metro and long haul applications.

References:

Datacom Optical Component Revenue Nearly $5B in 2021

4Q21 Optical Components Report