Observation of the 2025 Optoelectronic Expo: The accelerated integration of "optoelectronics + semiconductors", and drones are also joining the fun.
In the future, the core competitiveness of the industry will no longer be limited to breakthroughs in single technologies, but rather the in - depth integration of "technological innovation" and "scenario implementation".
As international geopolitics becomes increasingly complex, the semiconductor industry has gradually grown into a strategic emerging industry - from the upstream supply of semiconductor raw materials and equipment, to the mid - stream manufacturing of semiconductor products, and then to the downstream diverse applications. The entire industrial chain has entered an accelerated period of technological iteration in recent years.
Driven by the continuous development of fields such as 5G communication, AI, the Internet of Things, and autonomous driving, the integration of optoelectronic technology and the semiconductor industrial chain has been deepening, and its key role has been highlighted in more and more scenarios.
Against this industrial background, the recently concluded 26th China International Optoelectronic Exposition (hereinafter referred to as the "Optoelectronic Exposition") has become an important window to observe the industry trends.
During the exhibition, the author focused on visiting the exhibitors in the semiconductor and consumer electronics fields. Compared with last year, it was obvious that this year's exhibitors had richer physical product displays and more diversified technological routes.
As a comprehensive exhibition with great influence in the domestic optoelectronic industry, this year's Optoelectronic Exposition brought together more than 3,800 enterprises from around the world, focusing on eight cutting - edge fields, including information communication, precision optics, camera technology and applications, laser manufacturing, infrared and ultraviolet, intelligent sensing, new displays, and AR/VR.
From the technological competition of 1.6T optical modules to the immersive experience of AR/VR optics, from the microscopic world of precision optics to the wide application of infrared sensing, this grand event not only showcased the latest achievements of the optoelectronic industry but also clearly outlined the future development path of the industry.
"Optoelectronics + Semiconductor": Accelerating the Construction of the Industrial Ecosystem
Comparing the scenarios of last year's Optoelectronic Exposition, the display logic in the optical communication field has changed significantly this year. Last year, most enterprises emphasized the keyword "AI" in their promotional materials, especially for products such as optical modules and silicon photonic chips. Since these products benefited from the AI - driven upgrade of optical communication technology, their product introductions naturally revolved around AI.
This year, leading enterprises in the optical communication field have devoted more efforts to physical product displays. Technological products such as CPO (Co - Packaged Optics) solutions and 1.6T optical modules have been prominently displayed. Even the 800G optical modules, which occupied the "C - position" last year, have basically become mass - produced products this year and can respond to the market's batch delivery requirements at any time.
Behind this change is the industry transformation driven by the data center and AI dual tracks. The competition in the optical module industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and the market focus has shifted from "technological concepts" to "practical applications". AI is no longer an optional promotional highlight but the core capability foundation of products. This also places higher requirements on enterprises' ability to integrate the industrial ecosystem of "technology - production - application".
More importantly, the integration of "optoelectronics + semiconductor" is not limited to the optical communication field but runs through all the exhibition halls of this year's Optoelectronic Exposition.
Take the AR headset display as an example. Enterprises no longer just present the whole - machine products but focus on disassembling their core components. For example, the "optical engine", whose core function is to achieve optoelectronic signal conversion and image projection. Compared with the components of traditional optical communication optical modules, the optical engine has a higher degree of integration and stricter requirements for the precision of design, packaging, and other processes.
As the application of such silicon photonic integrated chips in downstream fields becomes more and more widespread, the supporting semiconductor materials, semiconductor equipment, and other links have also been connected. This trend has injected new development momentum into the Chinese semiconductor industry.
The most intuitive manifestation is that compared with last year's Optoelectronic Exposition, the proportion of domestic semiconductor equipment exhibitors this year is significantly higher. This is the result of the improvement of the supporting capabilities of domestic equipment driven by the improvement of the silicon photonic integrated industrial chain.
More Diverse Application Ends: Even Drones Join the Party
In the consumer electronics field, the development pace of the AR/VR industry is still slower than that of mature terminal devices such as mobile phones, PCs, and tablets. The problem of the lack of application ecosystem has not been effectively solved, and this situation was still prominent at this year's Optoelectronic Exposition. The number of exhibitors in the AR/VR field decreased instead of increasing, and most enterprises still focused on the R & D and upgrading of optical display solutions such as high refresh rates and high resolutions. The display volume of physical products was relatively limited.
However, a turning point is quietly emerging. Although the overall number of exhibitors has decreased, most exhibitors have significantly increased the display proportion of AR glasses. With large enterprises such as Xiaomi and Alibaba entering the market one after another, the popularity of the AR glasses track has continued to rise. Especially with the support of AI technology, smart glasses with a significantly reduced weight have broken through the portability bottleneck and found the key entry point to connect the application end. More importantly, a mature supply chain system has been formed at the hardware level, laying the foundation for subsequent large - scale applications.
For the AR/VR industry, this change is an adjustment of the previous development path. Due to the lack of application ecosystem, enterprises previously chose to upgrade optical display solutions first and relied on the B - end market (such as the industrial and medical industries) to increase brand revenue. Now, with the continuous expansion of downstream application scenarios, these mature display technologies are no longer limited to AR glasses but are also applied to helmet display systems, night - vision devices, and other fields. There were also many such cross - border application products on display at this year's Optoelectronic Exposition.
In fact, the explosion of optoelectronic technology on the application side is far more than just AR glasses.
At this Optoelectronic Exposition, emerging products such as drones, in - vehicle optical communication equipment, endoscopic imaging instruments, laser medical equipment, humanoid robot prototypes, and optical components related to quantum computing have all received more exposure.
Through scenario - based displays, these products have broken down the barriers between "technological R & D" and "practical applications", forming an industrial aggregation effect of "1 + 1>2".
New Trends in the Optoelectronic Industry: The Integration of Technology and Scenarios
In addition to the semiconductor and consumer electronics fields, this year's Optoelectronic Exposition also brought together multiple categories such as intelligent vehicles, security lenses, laser technology, infrared technology, precision optics, and camera technology. Its large scale and wide coverage are amazing, highlighting the diversification of the optoelectronic industry.
In the "Camera Technology Hall", enterprises showcased optical lenses, camera modules, and supporting products. From the high - pixel upgrade of mobile phone cameras to the precise imaging of industrial cameras; from the optimization of the wide - dynamic range of security monitoring to the improvement of the microscopic detection ability of medical equipment, camera technology is continuously innovating to meet the diverse needs of different industries.
In theme halls such as the "Precision Optics Exhibition and Processing Hall" and the "Optical Vacuum Coating Hall", enterprises presented the "unsung heroes" of the optoelectronic industry: optical materials, optical components, and processing equipment. These seemingly ordinary basic components are the core support for the performance of all optoelectronic products. From sapphire substrates to silicon carbide wafers, from precision lenses to vacuum coating equipment, every technological breakthrough directly determines the competitiveness of terminal products, highlighting the depth and thickness of the optoelectronic industrial chain.
Even in relatively traditional fields such as laser technology and infrared technology, there are new changes at this exhibition. AI technology has begun to deeply penetrate into laser cutting, infrared detection, and other processes, improving the precision and efficiency of equipment through algorithm optimization and helping the industry accelerate the intelligent upgrade process.
Looking at the entire Optoelectronic Exposition, we can see the rapid development of China's optoelectronic industry: from "scale expansion" to "quality improvement", from "technological following" to "original innovation leadership". In mature fields such as optical modules and precision optics, Chinese enterprises have the strength to compete with international giants. In emerging fields such as AR/VR, Chinese enterprises are seizing the development opportunity with their rapid market response ability and continuous innovation investment.
With the acceleration of 5G/6G construction, the explosion of AI computing power demand, and the upgrading of the new energy industry, optoelectronic technology, as the basic support for information acquisition, transmission, and processing, will have further expanded application scenarios.
In the future, the core competitiveness of the industry will no longer be limited to breakthroughs in single technologies, but the in - depth integration of "technological innovation" and "scenario implementation". This is not only the core signal conveyed by this year's Optoelectronic Exposition but also the key direction for the high - quality development of China's optoelectronic industry.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Meku.com". Author: jh. Republished by 36Kr with permission.