High demands for machine vision products provide expanded opportunities for Chinese manufacturers

By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Jul 19 -- Machine vision, the core technology for industrial automation, is becoming a faster growth track for Chinese companies, according to a recent research report by a leading Chinese firm CITIC Construction Investment Securities.

The market is driven by the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and the continuous strengthening of quality control requirements. They expanded downstream application scenarios and pushed gradual breakthroughs of core technologies.

The development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things also push industrial automation to rise, leading to bigger demands for machine vision products.

The growth rate of machine vision's primary downstream application industries is noticeable. The growth rate of lithium batteries, new energy vehicles, industrial robots, and electronics industries in 2021 reached 181%, 150%, 65%, and 40%, respectively.

Industrial cameras have the highest technical barriers and the fastest technological iteration among the upstream components of machine vision. Their market scale is more significant than lenses and light sources. Chinese manufacturers have begun to launch self-developed industrial cameras with the apparent trend of intelligence.

Chinese camera module manufacturer Ofilm (欧菲光) is such a front runner. As a leading manufacturer in the optical industry, this Shenzhen-based company has worked in the field for 20 years. In 2022, the company released its self-developed machine vision depth camera module, a breakthrough in 3D perception technology.

It also released a 1.3-megapixel black-and-white industrial camera with domestic-produced CIS chips and FPGA processors from well-known Chinese manufacturers. Other vital components (DDR, PHY, Flash, POE IC, etc.) also used domestic-produced materials. The product can be widely used in automation robots, the automobile industry, industrial inspection, food and drug, and other industries.

According to the forecast of Markets and Markets, an international research organization, the global machine vision market with reach $17.2 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% from 2022 to 2027. Ofilm is blessed with more opportunities.