RFID market to grow 255% by 2010, says report
Silicon Strategies
04/19/2004, 10:55 AM ET
LONDON--Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is expected to be a significant growth driver for the electronics sector, growing by 255 percent from $900 million in 2003 to $2.3 billion in 2010, according to Future Horizons, a market research firm based in the United Kingdom.
Future Horizons reports that the market for non-label tags was 300 million units in 2003, rising to a forecasted 1 billion units in 2004, whilst the market for label tags was 300 million units in 2003, rising to a forecast 65 billion units in 2010.
The market for RFID tags is split into two categories: passive and active tags. Passive tags obtain all their energy from the transmission field for short distance applications such as barcode replacement for library books and supermarket goods.
Meanwhile, active tags contain a small battery that enables the tag to transmit over long distances for tracking higher value items such as livestock and pharmaceuticals.
The market for tags as a "bar code replacement" offers the highest volume opportunity, with manufactures are still striving to reduce costs in the arena.
"The RFID market is currently polarized," said Malcolm Penn, chief executive of Future Horizons. "The use RFID tags for applications such as baggage, postal, animal husbandry, prisoner tagging is well advanced with volumes running in tens of millions, but the ultra-high volumes will come from tags in shop labeling, personal medical and bank note security, where the technology is still in development but will come on stream in 2005 and beyond."
Future Horizons reports that the market for RFID is being driven by retailers who are demanding that suppliers deliver RFID tagged products for certain products lines, with an inability to comply resulting in the product line no longer being carried.
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