In recent years, industrial laser processing has been rapidly applied in all walks of life, and gradually entered into high-end applications such as rail locomotives, aerospace, new energy, marine equipment, military industry, etc. The domestic laser industry chain has gradually matured, the technology of key core links has gradually filled in the gap, and a number of leading enterprises have started listing, which has basically formed the industry pattern. However, the development of the industry is always changing. Under the pressure of various complex environments at home and abroad, new changes may occur in the laser market.
1、 Change from incremental market to stock market
Since the promotion of laser processing equipment, the domestic market demand has shown a trend of continuous expansion. The market increment mainly comes from the continuous emergence of new demand, followed by the upgrading of laser equipment products. What follows is the continuous breakthrough of laser technology and the improvement of power.
In addition to traditional marking, cutting and welding, new forms such as laser cleaning and hand-held laser welding have opened up new demands for laser applications in recent years. In addition, many new applications, such as batteries, new energy, automobiles, wearables, display panels, sanitary ware, engineering machinery, have widened the application space of lasers, thus bringing new shipments.
As far as laser cutting equipment is concerned, the appearance of laser cutting has replaced quite a few traditional punches, flame cutting and water knife cutting, and is also better than plasma cutting on thick plates, becoming the best choice. Since the application of fiber laser cutting in 2011, it has also occupied the share of CO2 laser cutting. With the rapid increase of laser power, the end users pursue higher efficiency, and also have the need to update the equipment. Several reasons have driven the cutting equipment to grow year after year, even more than 30% in some years.
Today, the annual shipment of domestic laser cutting equipment has exceeded 50000 sets. With the intensification of competition and the decline of equipment unit price, the profits of enterprises have also been compressed. In addition, the economic environment has deteriorated in the past two years due to the epidemic, and the laser equipment manufacturers have been under greater growth pressure. It can be seen that the shipment volume of some equipment manufacturers has increased in the past two or three years, but the performance and profits have not increased significantly. In 2022, orders in many industries will decrease, and end users will also shrink their investment in new equipment. The equipment purchased in the first two or three years is far from being replaced. It can be predicted that it will become more and more difficult for laser cutting equipment to seek shipment increment, and the laser market will enter the era of stock.
According to the law of industrial development, domestic lasers are gradually entering a mature and stable period, and the stock age will remain for a long time. Whether the equipment shipment can jump and continue to grow depends largely on the expansion demand of the manufacturing industry.
2、 Price war forces deep industrial integration
The laser industry has been developing in China for more than 20 years. After 2012, the localization of lasers and laser equipment has developed rapidly. From small power to high power, they have entered the white hot price war one by one. From the nanosecond pulse laser used for marking to the continuous laser used for cutting and welding, the price war of fiber laser has never stopped. From one kilowatt to 20000 watts, the price war continues.
The continuous price war has greatly reduced the profits of laser enterprises. A few years ago, foreign laser enterprises were able to maintain a gross profit of about 50%. In recent years, the sharp price reduction of Chinese local laser enterprises has led foreign laser enterprises and other enterprises out of the price war. A few years ago, a 10000 watt laser required more than 1 million yuan. Today, a domestic laser can be purchased for 230000 yuan. The price has dropped by nearly 80%. This decline and the speed of price reduction are amazing. In recent two years, the price war has turned to the middle and high-end market.
The price war for many years has made some leading laser enterprises lose money. Due to the insufficient operating rate of the laser downstream equipment integrators, some laser manufacturers chose the route of price reduction in order to maintain the shipment volume and impact the performance, which intensified the competition in the laser market. The average gross margin and net profit of laser companies decreased significantly. The unit price of laser products has been in the downward channel, which is the biggest unsolvable dilemma for the laser industry.
At present, the nanosecond laser used for marking has been irreducible, and the profit of selling one set may only be a few hundred yuan. The real high-tech has become the price of cabbage. There is almost no room to reduce the price of 1000 watt fiber laser, and the sales volume is just to maintain the production and business performance of the enterprise. Small power laser has really entered the era of low profit, and only medium and high power has a little profit margin.
In 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic on the domestic economy as a whole, the demand for terminal processing is weak. In order to seize orders, some large enterprises are willing to cut prices, which brings greater pressure to other small and medium-sized enterprises.
Enterprises in the field of laser equipment have the same experience. As the threshold for assembling equipment is lower, more laser equipment enterprises have emerged, and new enterprises have emerged in all provinces and regions. The demand market is no longer exclusive to equipment enterprises in Wuhan, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. Laser equipment is more competitive than lasers.
The development track of any industry is very similar. When the price war is coming to an end, the industry will enter into integration. It is estimated that the next three years will be a key period for the laser industry. If the laser enterprises can seize the opportunity or break a new path by relying on technology in this time, they can go to a higher level and become the leading enterprises in the subdivided fields. Otherwise, they will be left behind and may eventually be eliminated in the knockout match.
3、 Complete upgrading of supporting laser products to replace imports
In the past, China’s supporting laser equipment products, such as laser diodes, special optical fibers, optical lenses, processing heads, displacement platforms, optical transmission, chillers, software, control systems, and high-end products are highly dependent on foreign products. These products have grown out of nothing in China and are also developing vigorously. With the improvement of laser application power, new requirements are put forward for supporting products. Relevant enterprises in China have gradually accumulated technology and experience, and the R&D, technology and quality of products have been greatly improved, which has gradually replaced imported products.
In the state of epidemic border control, China’s laser industry has reduced the interaction between foreign peers and suppliers, and also restricted the development of overseas supporting and device manufacturers in China. Users are more inclined to choose local supporting products, speeding up the progress of replacing imported products.
The impact of the price war in the industry also affects the field of supporting laser products. In addition to higher technology content and quality assurance, the requirements for supporting laser enterprises in the future will tend to provide more specialized and better service supporting products to win customers and the terminal market.
Post time: Oct-28-2022