January 8, 2010 -- According to a newly released market research report from Information Gatekeepers Inc. (IGI), the HDMI-based Active Optical Cable (AOC) market will grow from $49 million in 2010 to over $1.17 billion by 2014. According to the forecast, during this period, early OEM providers will enjoy excellent average selling prices (ASPs) compared with the cost of building these cables.
IGI's AOC Report suggests that the materials costs for HDMI-based active cables will also decline, allowing the leading cable providers to realize excellent product margins even as they grow their sales volumes. ASPs will remain at $112 in 2010, then swing down to $56 by 2014 as output volume surges significantly. OEM cable providers who concentrate on keeping their materials costs in check can still thrive during this period of time.
IGI expects to see an early entrance of 20 Gbps HDMI 2.0 in 2010, with higher ASPs driving their revenue picture. Pressure from competing bus interfaces such as DisplayPort and Light Speed are anticipated to accelerate this high-speed transition late in 2010. The larger HDTV installed base and production of HDMI V1.4 devices will continue to drive demand for lower-speed 10 Gbps HDMI models for quite some time. In 2014, even the relatively modest 32% share for 10 Gbps HDMI AOC results in ~$370 million in revenue.
According to IGI, the target user base for HDMI-based active optical cables includes the following: Large-screen high-definition televisions; High-definition projectors (ceiling mounts); Digital signage applications; Media center personal computer applications, especially those involving HDTVs; High-definition media players such as BluRay disc devices operating with uncompressed formats; Any HDMI application where effective extended reach is required and large, thick, bulky cables are not an option.
IGI maintains that its Active Optical Cables: Market Report 2009 should be of interest to: Systems suppliers; Cable suppliers; Connector manufacturers; Integrated optics suppliers; VCSEL suppliers; Optical detector/PIN diodes makers; Investors. Individual tables and graphs provide the reader with overall AOC figures, as well as breakouts by application segments, product categories, and bus interfaces.
The report provides detailed AOC-related forecast analysis for the following: Revenue; Number of cables sold; Expected length of optical fiber and cable jacketing; Number of connectors, including segmentation by application and interface type; VCSEL counts, including breakout by VCSEL speeds.