Hardware Encryption Market Worth $167 Billion by 2018 - MarketsandMarkets

Encryption of data is a process of converting it into a form, where it becomes unintelligible to any person without access to a key/password to decrypt the data.

The two forms of encryption that exist currently are the hardware-based encryption and software-based encryption.

The major difference is that in hardware encryption, the encryption and decryption processes are done by a dedicated processor on the hardware encrypted device. In software encryption, the resources of the device on which the software is installed, are used for the encrypting and decrypting the data. This makes hardware encryption much faster. Another advantage of hardware encryption is that the cryptographic key is stored in a separate inaccessible portion of memory storage, thus making it more secure than software encryption.

Currently the cost of adding hardware encryption capability to storage products is still slightly high ($20-30, on an average). Also, the flooding in Thailand and the earthquake in Japan in 2011 pushed the prices of all HDD drives up in 2012. This was mainly because all the top players in the digital storage industry have manufacturing plants in the APAC region, especially in Thailand. Thus a demand-supply imbalance caused a drastic rise in the ASP of HDD drives in 2012. Such external factors have delayed the adoption and wide spread deployment of hardware encrypted products. The hardware encryption market is on the road to recovery and the product prices are starting to come down again and this is driving the market forward.

The global hardware encryption market revenue is expected to reach $14.86 billion by end of 2013, according to the market research report Hardware Encryption Market – By Algorithms (AES, RSA), Architectures (FPGA, ASIC), Products (HDD Drives, USB Drives and In-Line Encryptors), Applications, Verticals and Geography – Analysis & Forecast (2013 – 2018) (337 pages, $4,650) from MarketsandMarkets.

It is also expected to grow to $166.67 billion in 2018 at a CAGR of 62.17%. Similarly, volumes are estimated to grow from roughly 59.76 million units to 691.79 million units in 2018 at a CAGR of 63.20%. This growth is heralded by the CE applications market for hardware encryption products. The hardware encryption applications in the military defense and aerospace applications sector is also expected to grow rapidly in the coming five years.

The total addressable market (TAM) revenue for hardware encrypted HDD drives is estimated to grow from $48.57 billion in 2013 to $146.37 billion in 2018. Thus, the market penetration of hardware encrypted HDDs into this TAM stands at 20.07% in 2013 and is expected to grow to 69.05% by 2018.

The rapid adoption of hardware encryption is expected in the near future. The TAM revenue for hardware encrypted USB drives is estimated to grow from $6.82 billion in 2013 to $19.14 billion in 2018. The market penetration of hardware encrypted USB drives into this TAM stands at 33.17% in 2013 and is expected to grow to 63.81% by 2018.

The TAMs have been calculated by the addition of the TAMs for each of the respective application markets.

When geographical markets North America, Europe, AsiaPac and the rest of the world are considered, APAC has the major share in the market with expected revenue of roughly $5.15 billion in 2013. The CAGR of the market’s primary base – APAC, for the period 2013 to 2018 is calculated to be 58.40%. Europe and North America are the fastest growing regions, with expected CAGRs of 64.03% and 63.69% respectively from 2013 to 2018, due to the major growth spurts expected in the consumer electronics sector in the developing countries in this region.

The major players in this market are: