Is this field still worth entering, and who already owns it?

Signal processing and calibration filed 49% of the field's new families in 2024, up from 40% in 2019. Optics is still the largest category, with 38% of the families in force, but its filings grew only 2% a year. A newcomer finds more room where the field is still moving than where it has settled.

Universities and institutes filed more than companies until 2011. In 2024 they filed 12% of the field's families, and 72% of everything they ever filed is still in force. They rarely compete for customers, so their portfolios are more likely licensing or research partners than rivals.

Sales in the sector grew 1.8× from 2019 to 2025, to $2.4B. United States is still the largest market, with 41% of sales, but China grew fastest, 3.6×. Where you sell decides how much of that growth reaches you.

Filings grew 22% a year through the growth phase and only 4% a year since 2021, while 21 new applicants arrived. The field is filling up rather than expanding. Most positions are taken, so entering now means competing with their holders or working with one of them.

Medtronix leads the ranking, with $310M in revenue and 311 families in force. Qinghe Photonics grows fastest, from $25M to $110M in revenue since 2019. The leaders are the likely partners or buyers. The fast growers are the competitors to watch.

If sales keep growing 11% a year, as they have since 2019, they reach $3.26B in 2028. Filings have levelled off at about 351 a year, and each new family costs the sector some $667K in R&D. For a newcomer, licensing or buying an existing position is worth pricing against building one.