Vacuum Coating Equipment Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2034

This report describes and explains the vacuum coating equipment market and covers 2019-2024, termed the historic period, and 2024-2029, 2034F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global vacuum coating equipment market reached a value of nearly $23.82 billion in 2024, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.63% since 2019. The market is expected to grow from $23.82 billion in 2024 to $34.48 billion in 2029 at a rate of 7.67%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.36% from 2029 and reach $49.17 billion in 2034.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the growing adoption of electric vehicles, rising demand from the semiconductor industry, rise in demand for medical devices and equipment and growing investments in aerospace and defense applications. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were high initial investment costs and stringent environmental regulations.

Going forward, growing demand for consumer electronics, rising miniaturization of devices, expansion of the solar energy sector and rising demand for sustainable and eco-friendly coatings will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the vacuum coating equipment market in the future include availability of alternative coating technologies, lack of skilled technicians and operators and impact of trade war and tariffs.

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the vacuum coating equipment market, accounting for 36.72% or $8.74 billion of the total in 2024. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the vacuum coating equipment market will be North America and Western Europe where growth will be at CAGRs of 8.38% and 7.92% respectively. These will be followed by Asia-Pacific and Middle East where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 7.35% and 7.10% respectively.

The global vacuum coating equipment market is fairly fragmented, with a large number of small players operating in the market. The top 10 competitors in the market made up 21.20% of the total market in 2024. Oerlikon Balzers Coating AG was the largest competitor with a 5.56% share of the market, followed by IHI Corporation (Hauzer Techno Coating) with 4.39%, Bühler Group with 3.18%, Applied Materials Inc., with 1.67%, Ferrotec Holdings Corporation, with 1.49%, ULVAC Inc. with 1.13%, Veeco Instruments Inc. with 1.05%, Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AGwith 1.01%, ShinMaywa Industries Ltd. with 0.96%. and Leybold GmbH with 0.76%.

The vacuum coating equipment market is segmented by product into physical vapor deposition (PVD), magnetron sputtering and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The physical vapor deposition (PVD) market was the largest segment of the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by product, accounting for 55.63% or $13.25 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by product, at a CAGR of 8.74% during 2024-2029.

The vacuum coating equipment market is segmented by application into transparent electrical conductors, optical films, packaging, hard and wear-resistant coatings, energy (including hydrogen and battery applications), medical devices, wear-resistant tools, electronic components and devices and other applications. The electronic components and devices market was the largest segment of the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by application, accounting for 21.99% or $5.24 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the energy (including hydrogen and battery applications) segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 9.30% during 2024-2029.

The vacuum coating equipment market is segmented by vertical into electronics, automotive, healthcare, aerospace, opto-electronics, defense and other verticals. The electronics market was the largest segment of the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by vertical, accounting for 38.85% or $9.25 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the opto-electronics segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the vacuum coating equipment market segmented by vertical, at a CAGR of 9.07% during 2024-2029.

The top opportunities in the vacuum coating equipment markets segmented by product will arise in the physical vapor deposition (PVD) segment, which will gain $5.39 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the vacuum coating equipment markets segmented by application will arise in the electronic components and devices segment, which will gain $2.6 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the vacuum coating equipment markets segmented by vertical will arise in the electronics segment, which will gain $4.67 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The vacuum coating equipment market size will gain the most in the USA at $2.68 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the vacuum coating equipment market include next-gen thin-film coating platform set to accelerate solar cell manufacturing, advanced next-generation PVD systems set new benchmarks in vacuum coating strategic partnerships drive innovation in vacuum coating technology, coating technology centers accelerate innovation in aerospace and turbine manufacturing, advanced vacuum coating line bridges R&D and industrial production and advanced sputtering machines redefine coating precision and efficiency.

Player-adopted strategies in the vacuum coating equipment market include focus on strengthening its business operations through strategic acquisitions, expanding its business through new launches, business capabilities through strategic partnerships and new product developments.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the vacuum coating equipment market companies to focus on advancing coating equipment platforms with efficiency and automation, focus on advancing PVD systems to strengthen market position, focus on integrating multiple coating technologies to accelerate innovation, focus on developing high-performance, scalable systems for emerging applications, focus on advancing sputtering coating machines for precision and efficiency, focus on chemical vapor deposition to capitalize on high-purity coating demand, expand in emerging markets, focus on forming strategic partnerships to expand technology access and market reach, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on value-based pricing to reflect performance and application specificity, continue to use B2B promotions, focus on technical content marketing to educate and influence industrial buyers, focus on trade show participation and partner-led events to demonstrate capability, focus on energy applications to drive high-growth opportunities in vacuum coating and focus on opto-electronics to capture rapid growth in high-precision applications.