In 2023, the global machine vision market reached $6.26 billion, with 2D and 3D industrial cameras together accounting for 40%, smart cameras/sensors accounting for 13%, and light sources and lenses accounting for 13%.
In terms of growth rate, according to the latest research interviews with vision vendors at home and abroad, as well as Interact Analysis’ tracking and forecasting of growth in the manufacturing industry, the size of the global machine vision market declined by 2.8% year-on-year in 2023, but a challenging year has passed and the market is expected to return to growth of 1.4% in 2024. The global machine vision market CAGR (2023-2028) is expected to reach 8.3% over the next five years, and 3D cameras will be the product market with the highest growth rate, with a forecast CAGR of 15.9%.
In terms of sub-industry, the difference between the main application industries in China and the European and American markets is very obvious. Battery, automotive, and semiconductor are China’s machine vision market in 2023 the three largest application industries, while the European and American markets in the automotive, logistics, food and beverage & tobacco industries ranked the top three, especially logistics and food and beverage industry in Europe and the United States market share is significantly higher than the share in China. The lithium battery industry outbreak in the past two years has brought a large number of machine vision inspection application demand, although we expect the lithium equipment industry in 2024 will still face a slowdown in demand growth, in the medium and long term, the market demand for machine vision is robust, is expected to short-term downturn after the lithium battery manufacturing industry in Europe and North America will lead the next round of prosperity cycle, bringing the demand for machine vision inspection.
By application, inspection applications are the key area of focus for machine vision products globally, contributing up to 44% of the market size. Bin-picking applications are the growth highlight of the machine vision market over the next five years, with the market size expected to grow to nearly triple its current size by 2028, with a CAGR of up to 24%. In the Asia-Pacific machine vision market, the percentage of sales of products used for assembly and inspection is higher than that in the European and American markets.
Two Trends in the Global Machine Vision Market
The first is the increasing penetration of 3D cameras. The introduction of 3D vision can improve the degree of automation in difficult scenes, and 3D vision companies focusing on this field have also appeared in some scenes that traditionally use 2D cameras, such as welding applications. Vision vendors around the world are actively exploring and demonstrating a variety of application scenarios, especially Chinese vendors with application/solution-orientated routes, which helps to lower the threshold for integrators and users to use and increase market acceptance of 3D cameras.
The second is the growth of the robotics market driving the machine vision market size. According to the market study “Industrial Robot Components” published by Interact Analysis 2023, the proportion of industrial robots equipped with machine vision will reach 41% in 2023, and by 2027, nearly half of all industrial robots will be equipped with vision systems. Machine vision applications in assembly, sorting, and inspection will particularly benefit from the expansion of the robotics market.
