The global market for General Purpose Electronic Test & Measurement (T&M) Instruments is projected to reach US$9. 4 billion by 2025, driven by soaring data traffic warranting network enhancements and continuous performance monitoring; and launch of new next generation electronic equipment in communications, aerospace, military and defense, consumer electronics and manufacturing sectors. Not surpassingly, all focus will be on data rates as 5G emerges to push mobile data traffic to an exponential high. This will push up the importance of electronic test and measurement equipment given their role in ensuring that all this data traffic gets to its destination efficiently and without delay. They do this by helping accelerate the design & reliability testing of new communication technologies/networks. To ensure applications function seamlessly on 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks, testing is critically important. Testing therefore ensures quality of service (QoS) and a positive experience for consumers. As technologies converge and upgrade, they become complex making it important for companies to have the right tools to simulate, test, characterize, and evaluate. Device miniaturization and growing complexity of electronic components such as ICs are creating the need for innovative T&M instruments with the flexibility and functionality to meet the testing requirements of next generation electronics. Network overload caused by exploding IP traffic and other extraneous factors such as bad configuration management;` rogue adapter broadcasts; outdated hardware such as witches, routers, servers and internet exchanges; and multicasting , is pushing up the importance of network performance testing to ensure network optimization at all times.

Other major factors influencing growth include demand for portability and the ensuing robust demand for wireless test equipment; increasing R&D investments dedicated to the development of new product functionalities and capabilities; strategic integration of testing as a vital part of the chip designing and fabrication process; emerging wireless standards, the need for wider bandwidth, and the ensuing demand for RF signal generators; need for RF spectrum analyzers in the communications industry against the backdrop of expanding use of electronic equipment that uses radio frequency signals. A key fact to note is the relative maturity of the market with product penetration in most of the end-use sectors averaging to over 90%. Yet another indicator of the market`s maturity is the increasing price-performance ratio of testing equipment. The market is now ripe for pricing pressures, and corporate survival hinges upon the ability to provide enhanced product functionalities at reduced costs. With the exception of new, innovative and state-of-the-art test equipment, manufacturers find it virtually impossible to maintain a high price structure. A direct fallout of the intensifying pricing pressures is the move towards consolidation in the market, as players reorient strategies and realign their businesses to better reflect the changing competitive dynamics, and remain viable and competitive in the maturing market. Asia-Pacific including China is a major market led by strong electronics manufacturing activity supported by spiraling demand for consumer, medical, automotive and industrial electronics; rapid advancements in data and wireless communication infrastructure; and gradual shifting of semiconductor and electronics R&D activities to Southeast Asia.