The pace of growth in demand for molecular spectroscopy will be far more moderate in 2011, following a healthy rebound in 2010. As government stimulus spending, which has been a huge boon to academic and government demand for NMR, dwindles in 2011, the growth rate for NMR will be cut in half for the coming year and will be one of the biggest reasons for the overall drop in the growth rate for molecular spectroscopy. Color measurement and ellipsometry will experience the biggest drop in growth rates in 2011, primarily due to the very high growth both techniques experienced as they rebounded from sharp declines during the recession. Color measurement, which is still expected to experience moderate single-digit growth, is not expected in the near future to approach its all-time high level of demand of several years ago. Ellipsometry, on the other hand, should experience the largest annual demand ever, thanks to a cyclical upswing in the semiconductor and electronics industry. This coming year is expected to exhibit more typical annual growth across the board for molecular spectroscopy, with Raman outperforming all other molecular spectroscopy techniques at close to 10% growth. Although Raman is now a much more established analytical technique than five or ten years ago, it is still a far less mature market than most other molecular spectroscopy markets.

Bruker will continue to lead the molecular spectroscopy vendor share by a considerable margin due to its extremely strong position in the large NMR market. Major acquisitions in 2010 have significantly reshaped the competitive landscape. Thermo Fisher Scientific is now a strong number two among molecular spectroscopy vendors due to its leading position in the UV/Vis and IR markets, while the company’s acquisition of fast-growing Ahura Scientific in 2010 (see IBO 1/31/10) now makes Thermo the leader in Raman spectroscopy as well. Agilent’s acquisition of Varian (see IBO 7/31/09) now makes Agilent one of the three major NMR vendors and puts Agilent on par with PerkinElmer in terms of overall molecular spectroscopy vendor share. FOSS’s dominance in the NIR market makes it one of the more significant competitors in the molecular spectroscopy market, while X-Rite’s strong rebound in the color analysis market gives it about 4% of the overall molecular spectroscopy market. It is also interesting to note that 4 of the top 11 competitors in the molecular spectroscopy market are based in Japan, including Shimadzu, JASCO, Horiba and JEOL. The top 10 molecular spectroscopy vendors, should easily break the $100 million mark in revenues this year.

Handheld instrumentation will continue to be the driving force behind much of the growth in demand for molecular spectroscopy in 2011. Raman has the heaviest proportion of demand for handheld and portable instruments, although these instruments are also increasingly significant within the IR, NIR and UV/Vis market segments. The broad range of industries and applications in which molecular spectroscopy is used will also be a major benefit to overall demand, particularly in an economic environment where most industries are experiencing modest expansion.

 Pie Chart: 2010 Molecular Spectroscopy Market by Product Type 

 Initial Systems                  70%

 Aftermarket                      18%

 Service                          12%

 Molecular Spectroscopy Market Leaders

 NMR/EPR                      Bruker, Agilent/Varian

 UV-Vis                       Thermo Fisher Sci., Hach (Danaher)

 IR                           Thermo Fisher Sci., PerkinElmer

 Color Measurement            X-Rite, Konica Minolta

 NIR                          FOSS, Thermo Fisher Scientific

 Raman                        Horiba, Thermo Fisher Scientific

 Fluorescence/Luminescence    Horiba, PerkinElmer

 Polarimetry/Refractometry    ATAGO, Reichert

 Ellipsometry                 Horiba, Sentech

 Column Graph: 2009–2012 Total Molecular Spectroscopy Market

              2009    2010    2011    2012

 $ Millions   3,148   3,448   3,637   3,829

 Molecular Spectroscopy 2010–2011

                                 Market Share     Growth Rate

 NMR/EPR                         27.0%            6.0%

 UV-Vis                          21.2%            3.3%

 IR                              18.9%            6.4%

 Color Measurement               9.3%             5.0%

 NIR                             7.7%             4.7%

 Raman                           6.5%             9.6%

 Fluorescence/Luminescence       4.2%             4.6%

 Polarimetry/Refractometry       3.5%             4.1%

 Ellipsometry                    1.8%             8.1%

 Total                           100.0%           5.5%

 Pie Chart: 2010 Molecular Spectroscopy Suppliers Market Shares

 Bruker                   17%

 Thermo Fisher Scientific 10%

 Agilent/Varian            8%

 PerkinElmer               6%

 FOSS                      4%

 Other                    55%