According to the report "RFID Market with COVID-19 Impact Analysis by Product Type (Tags, Readers, and Software and Services), Wafer Size, Tag Type (Passive Tags and Active Tags), Frequency, Applications, Form Factor, Material, and Region - Global Forecast to 2026," the RFID market will grow to $17.4 billion by 2026 from $10.7 billion in 2021 (estimated), at a CAGR of 10.2% between 2021 and 2026.
The key drivers fueling the growth of this market include growing market competitiveness leading to the availability of cost-effective RFID solutions, high returns on investment, and increasing regulations and government initiatives for various industries.
Moreover, the increasing installation of RFID systems in manufacturing units to improve productivity due to COVID-19 can play a key role in driving the growth of the RFID market.
The tag segment of the RFID market, by product is projected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period.
Tags are the most widely used components in the RFID market.
These devices are attached to several industrial and commercial assets, including manufacturing equipment and other industrial machinery, industrial materials, products, retail products, inventory, logistic containers, labels on products and groups of products, IV pumps, ECGs, and wheelchairs.
The large-scale use of tags and ease of use for tracing any kind of asset is the major reason for the adoption of RFID tags.
This could drive the demand for RFID tags in years ahead.
The passive tags segment of the RFID tag market, by tag type, is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period.
Passive tags do not require an external power source.
These are inexpensive and smaller, and easier to manufacture than active tags.
Passive RFID tags have various applications and are commonly used to track goods in pharmaceuticals, retail, supply chain, enterprise, and other industries.
Zebra Technologies, Avery Dennison, Alien Technology, Omni-ID, HID Global, Honeywell, and Mozix are some of the leading providers of passive RFID tags.
With the increasing penetration of passive tags as RAIN RFID frequency, the market for these tags is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
UHF tags can be classified into 2 types based on frequency range: passive tags and active tags.
UHF passive RFID tags offer the longest read range and highest reading speed among all passive tags.
These tags have a frequency range of 860–960 MHz. UHF passive tags can be read from an average distance of about 5–6 meters; larger UHF passive tags can read more than 30 meters in ideal conditions.
UHF active tags have 2 major operating frequencies: 433 MHz and 2.45 GHz.
These tags have the longest read range among all tags, i.e., around 150 meters.
These tags are largely used for applications such as asset tracking, asset counting, inventory management, supply chain management, vehicle tagging, and manufacturing equipment and product part tagging.
Due to the rising adoption of UHF tags in these applications, the market for UHF tags is high and is expected to be the same during the forecast period.
The dominance of this segment is due to the high adoption of tracking systems by logistics organizations to track and monitor their cargo in transit through air, road, or marine.
RFID solutions help industries optimize their supply chain by better managing warehouse inventory, tracking shipments, and streamlining the best route for the supply chain.
Supply chain companies are facing major issues in ensuring that the right product is delivered at the right location at the right time.
Such companies are deploying RFID tags on containers and freight systems to have real-time visibility of the cargo.
The involvement of governments in the global supply chain has led to the use of RFID tags on freight to locate and track them for secure transport.
These activities are expected to drive the growth of the RFID tag market for logistics and supply chain applications.
The high adoption of RFID systems in the US is a major factor that has led to the prominent position of the Americas in the RFID market.
Retail, manufacturing, transportation, logistics and supply chain, animal tracking, healthcare, defense, and IT asset tracking are the major applications for the RFID tag market in the US as well as throughout the Americas.
The use of RFID is high in supply chain monitoring for tracking assets in real-time. Various hospitals in the US are using RFID tags for applications such as equipment tracking, patient monitoring, and other tracking tasks.
These developments are expected to drive the growth of the RFID tag market in the region.
