The photonic integrated circuit (PIC) market should see significant growth over the next five years at an annual rate of 31.3 percent, according to a new report by Transparency Market Research. This market was valued at $160.1 million in 2012, and is expected to reach $996.2 million by 2019. Fueling such substantial growth has been cost reduction measures, for example, integrating various optical components such as lasers, detectors and modulators into a single package. Expansion of applications in optical communications, sensing and biophotonics, as well as improvements in energy consumption, reliability and data transfer speeds are also contributing to the PIC market’s growth, the researchers noted. Although hybrid integration is expected to remain dominant, monolithic integration is expected to grow at the fastest pace, at an annual rate of 36.3 percent between 2013 and 2019. This is the result of improvements in reliability, space reduction, energy efficiency and stabilization processes. North America leads the PIC market, followed by Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The report projects that the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at an annual rate of 35.2 percent through 2019. This can be attributed to an increasing number of manufacturing facilities, along with significant growth in data center applications. For more information, visit: www.transparencymarketresearch.com